WebProNews

Tag: Search

  • Bing Gives ‘Friends’ Photos’ Facebook Feature A Makeover

    Bing announced that it has made some adjustments to the Friends’ Photos social search feature it launched last year. Updates include a new look and interface and a new “slideshow mode”.

    “You may be familiar with the modern user interface design principles that serve as the foundation for Windows 8, Windows Phone and Xbox Live,” says Bing Social program manager MK Li. “We’ve introducing a new tile layout that marries design and performance, making it faster and more seamless to browse your friends’ photos.”

    Here’s what that looks like:

    Bing Photos

    “Now simply by clicking on a photo, you will enter slide show mode where you can see more photos from your Facebook friends that match your search. From there, you can also search for additional photos, or simply browse,” says Li.

    Slideshow Mode

    Of course Facebook has its own new way of browsing your friends’ photos, with Graph Search, which is still slowly rolling out to users.

  • Nicolaus Copernicus Google Doodle Celebrates Heliocentrism

    Today, I’d say that we’re at least fairly certain that the Earth (and all the other planets) revolve around the sun, and not the other way around. I don’t want to rule out some crazies out there, I mean, the world does have 7 billion people in it. But let’s just go with it. We know that the heliocentric model for our solar system is the correct one, and we have Nicolaus Copernicus to thank for that.

    Not just Copernicus, of course. Heliocentrism wasn’t his idea – it was proposed as early as the 3rd century BC. But Copernicus is credited with forming the comprehensive mathematical heliocentric model and his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) is considered one of the most important works in the history of science.

    After the publication of Celestial Spheres, the so-called Copernican Revolution began, ushering the world into the Scientific Revolution.

    Copernicus, a true Renaissance Man, served as a mathematician, astronomer, Catholic cleric, artist, physician, economist, and is said to have spoken at least four languages.

    Copernicus was born on February 19th, 1473 and died in 1543 at the age of 70. Today’s animated Google Doodle celebrates his 540th birthday.

  • Google Commerce Search Is No More

    Google Commerce Search Is No More

    After several iterations, Google has finally decided to kill of Commerce Search.

    The product was announced in late 2009 as an ecommerce-focused version of Google Site Search. It was specifically tailored to ecommerce and product sites. Here’s a look:

    In mid-2010, Google introduced version 2.0 with some new features:

    In 2011, another refresh was announced:

    Now, without an actual announcement, Google has shut the product down. TechCrunch shares a statement from a Google spokesperson:

    We are making a strategy shift towards offering more flexible, easier to adopt modules for retailers, such as the Search As You Type widget, rather than a full site search replacement and therefore will no longer be offering Google Commerce Search as a core site search replacement product. We will continue to support our current retail customers using GCS and will try to help them on the best migration process to alternate solutions.

    As TechCrunch’s Leena Rao points out, Google recommended sites use Commerce Search as recently as July, when the company announced it would shut down Google Mini.

  • Facebook: Our Policies Regarding Minors Carry Over to Graph Search

    We’ve already covered how Facebook’s new Graph Search feature may cause some privacy concerns for some users. It’s not that Graph Search allows people to see any more of your information than is already available, but it does make it much easier to find.

    The fact that users can search parameters involving “people who like ______” and “photos of people who like ______” makes some users uneasy. But the bottom line is that Graph Search only allows people to unearth information that’s already public. Sure, it may be tedious to go back and tighten the security level of all of your photos, posts, likes, etc. – but the point is that it can be done. Sure, Graph Search could lead to some interesting situations, but Facebook gives you a way to take yourself off the grid – if you so choose.

    Anyway, privacy concerns are always magnified when it comes to kids, and Facebook contains a whole lot of kids between the ages fo 13-17 (and plenty under the age of 13 as well).

    So Facebook has issued a statement on minors and Graph Search, seemingly in response (or preparation) to these privacy concerns. The main point is that Facebook doesn’t treat minors any differently in Graph Search than it does in any other facet of the site:

    As with all of our products, we designed Graph Search to take into account the unique needs of teens on Facebook. On Facebook, many things teens are likely to do – such as adding information to their timelines or sharing status updates – can only be shared with a maximum of Friends of Friends. In addition, for certain searches that could help to identify a young person by age or by their location, results will only show to that person’s Friends, or Friends of Friends who are also between the age of 13-17.

    Facebook’s Minors & Privacy help page indeed confirms that Facebook only allows those aged 13-17 to share photos and statuses with friends of friends, and only friends of friends can tag them in posts. For minors, location services are also turned off by default.

    You may disagree with Facebook’s policies toward minors and think that even sharing with “friends of friends” is too much, but that’s the overall Facebook policy when it comes to minors – and always has been. It’s not an invention of Graph Search.

    Of course, all the has to happen to get around all of these restrictions is for a kid to lie about his/her age. That happens all over the internet. And short of implementing impossibly resource-intensive and expensive mechanisms, there’s not much Facebook can do about that.

  • Bing’s Real-Time Reactions To The State Of The Union Address [Infographic]

    Bing launched a new Politics site with “Bing Pulse” ahead of the State of the Union address, and is now sharing some insights from the endeavor.

    “Last night, millions of Americans tuned into President Obama’s State of the Union address – and Bing stood alone in giving people a rare opportunity to give real-time feedback and access live social data at Bing.com/Politics,” says Mark Penn, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft. “Powered by Bing search technology and its unique social search experience, Bing’s State of the Union experience featured the breakthrough Bing Pulse – what turned out to be the largest live online poll in history.”

    Bing partnered with FOX News on the site, offering what Bing described as a “non-partisan online destination designed to meet” the “growing need for up-to-the-minute political information and second-screen experiences”.

    The Bing Pulse receieved 12.9 million votes, according to Bing, allowing people to join the conversation by “voting” every five seconds on their reactions to President Obama’s speech. Live results from the feature were shown on FOX News.

    The search engine released the following infographic looking at real-time reactions to the speech:

    Bing Looks at State Of The Union Address

    Here’s a look at some findings from Twitter.

  • Report: Yandex Surpasses Bing In Search Queries

    Report: Yandex Surpasses Bing In Search Queries

    According to a report from Search Engine Watch, citing numbers from comScore, Yandex is now bigger than Bing in terms of worldwide monthly search queries.

    Search Engine Watch’s Michael Bonfils says Microsoft sites processed 4.477 billion queries while Yandex processed 4.844 billion in November and December. That would make Microsoft (and Bing) number five. The top three are Google, Baidu and Yahoo.

    Last month, Yandex seemed poised to make a mark here in the U.S. (or at least attempt it), but the company’s plans were spoiled by Facebook. Yandex launched an app called Wonder, which was a new take on social search and relied heavily on Facebook data. Facebook deemed it a competitor (particularly since it had just launched its own social search offering in Graph Search), and cut the app off. It’s against Facebook’s terms to use Facebook’s data in a competing service.

    Facebook’s Graph Search could, however, actually help Bing if it gains traction. Bing provides the web results, which are the default when Facebook doesn’t have the appropriate data for a query. Graph Search is still in early beta, and is still slowly rolling out to users.

  • Bill Gates Wants You to Bing It On. Seriously.

    Bill Gates Wants You to Bing It On. Seriously.

    Bill Gates has just finished up his first-ever reddit AMA, answering users’ questions for just under one hour. Among the topics of discussion included Microsoft, coding, his wealth, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, vaccines, and yes, Bing.

    Replying to question “Do you guys really use Bing? I mean seriously?” Gates had this to say:

    Seriously Bing is the better product at this point. Try the challenge. I am biased but the work to make Bing better has been amazing.

    So there you have it, folks. Bill Gates thinks you should take the Bing challenge.

    Among the other interest answers given by Gates…

    Since becoming wealthy, what’s the cheapest thing that gives you the most pleasure?

    Kids. Cheap cheeseburgers. Open Course Ware courses…

    What one Microsoft program or product that was never fully developed or released do you wish had made it to market?

    We had a rich database as the client/cloud store that was part of a Windows release that was before its time. This is an idea that will remerge since your cloud store will be rich with schema rather than just a bunch of files and the client will be a partial replica of it with rich schema understanding. (WinFS)

    Can you still jump over chairs?

    Less than I used to. It was part of exercise for snow skiing. I still ski but I am not as hard core…

    How was your relationship with Steve jobs? I always hoped that y’all were really good friends and competitors.

    He and I respected each other. Our biggest joint project was the Mac where Microsoft had more people on the project than Apple did as we wrote a lot of applications. I saw Steve regularly over the years including spending an afternoon with him a few months before he tragically passed away…

    What emerging technology today do you think will cause another big stir for the average consumer in the same way that the home computer did years ago?

    Robots, pervasive screens, speech interaction will all change the way we look at “computers”. Once seeing, hearing, and reading (including handwriting) work very well you will interact in new ways..

    Head here for to read the whole Q&A session.

  • Bing Partners With FOX News On ‘Non-Partisan’ Politics Site

    Bing announced today that it has partnered with FOX News Channel and Foxnews.com to launch Bing Pulse, enabling users to give real-time feedback to President Obama’s State Of The Union address.

    This is part of a new political destination site from Bing at Bing.com/Politics, playing off Bing’s Elections offering. The company describes it as “a non-partisan online destination designed to meet this growing need for up-to-the-minute political information and second-screen experiences.”

    At this destination, users will be able to watch the speech live with commentary from FOX News pundits and “other political experts” via Twitter. They’ll also be able to participate in the Bing Pulse survey, filter news from left, center and right-leaning national and local news sources, according to Bing. Users will also be able to access original videos of Jimmy Carter and Newt Gingrich talking about the State of the Union address.

    “The Bing Pulse will allow people to join the conversation by ‘voting’ every five seconds on their reactions to the President’s speech,” Mark Penn, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft. “Real time results of the Bing Pulse will be shown at Bing.com/Politics and on FOX News Channel. We think this will be the largest live online poll in history.”

    Bing.com/Politics is also unveiling its “social sentiment tracker” called Bing Beat. This will analyze social sentiment on Twitter associated with the address – topics like immigration, gun control and the fiscal cliff.

    The new Bing.com/Politics will launch on Saturday.

  • Twitter Now Lets You Unearth Old Tweets in Search

    Following an app and mobile update that streamlined search, Twitter has just made another tweak to its search function – on both mobile and web.

    Starting now, you can view old tweets in search results. Really old, in fact – months and months old.

    Before today, searches on Twitter would only display tweets that were about a week old or more recent.

    “As we roll this out over the coming days, the Tweets that you’ll see in search results represent a fairly small percentage of total Tweets ever sent. We look at a variety of types of engagement, like favorites, retweets and clicks, to determine which Tweets to show. We’ll be steadily increasing this percentage over time, and ultimately, aim to surface the best content for your query. For now, enjoy your trip down memory lane!” says Twitter.

    So you’re not going to get everything, but you’re going to get more. Any old tweets that you see must be engaging enough (either via retweets, favorites, or another form of popularity) to make the cut.

    You can try it out for yourself by searching a hashtag like #SpotTheShuttle. That search finds dozens upon dozens of tweets going all the way back to September 2012.

  • Twitter App Update Streamlines Discovery and Search

    Twitter has just announced some search and discovery updates to their iOS and Android apps as well as mobile.twitter.com that they say will help users “better find what’s most important to you when you’re on the go.”

    What they’ve done is tweaked their discovery and search functions to provide a single steam of information – tweets, users, activity, trends. According to Twitter, it will all be in one place now.

    The Discover tab now aggregates all kinds of activity into one stream on both iOS and Android. Twitter has also added the ability to access activity and trends from the top of the Discover tab.

    Search has been updated in a similar fashion:

    “Search results now surface the most relevant mix of Tweets, photos, and accounts, all in one stream (similar to the stream in Discover). We’ve also added a new search button to Twitter for iPhone, letting you search from anywhere within the app. (This button was already available in the Android and iPad apps.) Look for the magnifying glass icon next to the button you use to compose a Tweet,” says Twitter.

    Twitter has also updated the @connect tab, which now defaults to showing all types of interactions. You can go into your settings and set the default to simply show @mentions if that’s what you want.

    Also, they changed the way the apps manage links to outside sites. If you click on a URL inside a tweet, you now go directly to the site no matter where you are in the Twitter app. Before, you would have to tap the tweet as a whole, go to and expanded view, and then click on the outside link to be directed out.

    Twitter says that the updates should be available in both the App Store and Google Play, but as of the writing of this article neither seem to be available yet. We’ll let you know when they drop.

  • The Top Search Trends During The Super Bowl

    Google revealed on Monday what the top trending searches were during the Super Bowl (US). The top five were:

    1. M&M’s
    2. Beyonce
    3. Baltimore Ravens
    4. San Francisco 49ers
    5. Colin Kaepernick

    Very interesting that “power outage” didnt’t make the list, though Google does mention it as another noteworthy trend. I guess it only had half a game to work with. Ultimately, it ended up ranking eighth out fo the most-searched terms during game time.

    Beyonce searches spiked during the halftime show, of course. Searches for Chrysler spiked after the brand’s fourth quarter commercial, Google says.

    Google software engineer Jeffrey Oldham says, “As they did in the game, the Ravens narrowly beat out the 49ers as the most-searched team during the game on Google. The most-searched players of the game were Colin Kaepernick, Joe Flacco, Michael Oher, David Akers and Jacoby Jones—thanks to his 108-yard kickoff return.”

    “The Harbaugh brothers’ on-field battle has been one of the big stories of the game, so it’s no surprise that viewers took to the web to find more information on these coaches,” he adds. “While John Harbaugh took home the trophy, Jim was the most-searched brother on Google.”

    Searches for Super Bowl ads on Google were 55 times higher on Sunday than they were for the same time the previous Sunday. The most searched-for ads were from: M&M’s, Mercedes-Benz, Disney’s “Oz Great and Powerful,” Lincoln, and Audi. Searches for “Gangnam Style” also trended on YouTube, as did searches for Beyonce and Alicia Keys, who sang the National Anthem.

    Yahoo also shared some insight into what people were searching for during the Super Bowl on its search engine. Searches spiked for “why did the lights go out,” “superdome power outage,” and “what caused power outage”.

    Here’s the top ad-related searches from Yahoo:

    1. [dodge super bowl commercial] (God Made A Farmer) – up 1722% during the game on Yahoo!
    2. [taco bell commercial]
    3. [go daddy commercial]
    4. [doritos goat commercial]
    5. [Budweiser commercial]
    6. [banned skittles commercial]
    7. [tide super bowl commercial]
    8. [calvin klein commercial]
    9. [jeep commercial]
    10. [oreo super bowl commercial
    11. [kia super bowl commercial]
    12. [mercedes commercial] The new car buzzed 3570% on Yahoo!
    13. [soda stream commercial] – the soda stream spiked 5244% on Yahoo!

    According to Yahoo, Bar Refaeli was the most buzzed about celebrity featured in a commercial followed by Kate Upton, Kaley Cuoco, Stevie Wonder, Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen. Rogen spiked by 1,045% on Yahoo, while Rudd searches spiked by 668% and Kate Upton searches spiked by 152%.

    Fast & The Furious 6 got the most buzz for movie trailers, spiking 827% on Yahoo, followed by World War Z at 78%.

    Searches for “beyonce super bowl 2013” spiked 7,236% on Sunday, searches for Jennifer Hudson spiked 10,802%, and searches for Destiny’s Child spiked 4,000%.

    Other noteworthy Super Bowl Sunday search trends from Yahoo:

    Super Bowl Related “How To” | “Who Is” Questions on Yahoo!

    [how to ripen avocados]
    [how to make wings]
    [how to make jello shots]
    [who is the direct tv genie]
    [who is favored to win the super bowl]
    [who is playing in the super bowl]
    [who is singing the national anthem at the super bowl]
    [who is in the super bowl]
    [who is beyonce married to]
    [who is beyonce’s husband]
    [who is older jim or john harbaugh]
    [who is paul harvey]
    [who is ray lewis]

    Top Searched Recipes On Super Bowl Sunday From Yahoo!:

    [7 layer dip]
    [easy super bowl recipes]
    [guacamole dip]
    [spinach dip]
    [meatball recipes]
    [spinach artichoke dip]
    [taco dip recipe]
    [crab dip recipe]
    [jalapeño dip recipe]
    [easy super bowl appetizers]
    [crockpot chili recipes]
    [white chicken chili]
    [baked chicken wings]
    [kale chip recipes]
    [hamburger recipes]
    [queso dip]
    [coleslaw recipe]

    Top Super Bowl Searches on Super Bowl Sunday on Yahoo!:

    [super bowl blackout]
    [super bowl lights out]
    [super dome]
    [beyonce super bowl]
    [super bowl winners]
    [superbowl food ideas]
    [super bowl snack ideas]
    [super bowl bets]
    [superbowl kick off time]
    [super bowl halftime show]
    [what time is super bowl]
    [vegas super bowl odds]
    [super bowl history]
    [super bowl squares]
    [puppy bowl]
    [puppybowl lineup]

  • Facebook And Google Aren’t Talking Much

    Facebook And Google Aren’t Talking Much

    Just because Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said he would love to work with Google, don’t expect the two to be cozying up anytime soon.

    When Facebook unveiled Graph Search earlier this month, Zuck was quoted as saying he would “love” to work with the search giant, even as the social network has a partnership in place with Bing. That’s probably not something Bing really wanted to hear him say, but who can blame him for the sentiments. Corporate politics aside, it makes too much sense for the company with all the social data, entering the search realm, to covet the power of the search engine that most people actually use. Likewise, it would make a great deal of sense for Google to covet the data from the social network everyone uses. Google+ growth has been impressive, but nobody would dare joke about it being able to offer the social and personal insight into users’ lives that Facebook can.

    The subject of the two companies working together inevitably came up in the Q&A session of Facebook’s earnings conference call on Wednesday. Long story short, the two companies aren’t really talking. Zuckerberg is quoted as saying, “Our relationship isn’t one where the companies really talk.”

    Business Insider recaps:

    However, he pointed out, because Google has a relatively open approach to its platforms, like its Android mobile operating system, Facebook is able to do more with its Android mobile app than it can on its iPhone app—even though its relationship with Apple is warmer. (He gave the example of being able to integrate text messages into the Facebook Messenger app on Android, which Facebook can’t do on Apple’s iOS mobile operating system.)

    The two companies have been competitors for a while now (and we’ve seen how Facebook is treating competitors these days), but that doesn’t mean a partnership couldn’t benefit both companies. It would certainly benefit users, which both seem rather keen on doing. Still, it’s not looking like we’re going to be seeing Zuckerberg and Larry Page going for a long walk on the beach anytime soon.

  • Is Yahoo Poised For A Search Comeback?

    Yahoo released its earnings report for Q4 and the full year 2012. The report was better than many analysts had expected, and this was helped significantly by better-than-expected search performance from the company who has outsourced its search back-end to Bing.

    Here are the search highlights from the release:

    • GAAP search revenue was $482 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, a 4 percent increase compared to $465 million for the fourth quarter of 2011. GAAP search revenue was $1,886 million for the full year of 2012, a 2 percent increase compared to $1,853 million for the prior year.
    • Search revenue ex-TAC was $427 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, a 14 percent increase compared to $376 million for the fourth quarter of 2011. Search revenue ex-TAC was $1,611 million for the full year of 2012, a 9 percent increase compared to $1,478 millionfor the prior year.
    • Paid clicks, or the number of clicks on sponsored listings on Yahoo! Properties and Affiliate sites, increased approximately 11 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 and increased approximately 8 percent compared to the third quarter of 2012.
    • Price-per-click increased approximately 1 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 and decreased approximately 2 percent compared to the third quarter of 2012.

    During a conference call following the report’s release, CEO Marissa Mayer, a major player in Google’s search efforts over the years, indicated that search is a big priority for the former king of search engines. Wired quotes her:

    “Overall in search, it’s a key area of investment for us,” Mayer said. “We need to invest in a lot of interface improvements. All of the innovations in search are going to happen at the user interface level moving forward and we need to invest in those features both on the desktop and on mobile and I think both ultimately will be key plays for us.”

    “We have a big investment we want to make and a big push on search. We have lost some share in recent years and we’d like to regain some of that share and we have some ideas as to how.”

    Despite rumors that have been whispered throughout the industry from time to time, there’s nothing here to suggest that Yahoo and Bing will be breaking its deal off prematurely, as Mayer seems much more concerned with the front end. It will be interesting to see what becomes of it.

    The company has already been pushing out a redesigned home page to users (though we’ve seen more complaints than praise).

    Can Yahoo make a comeback in search? What do you think?

  • Google SafeSearch Changes Hit the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and More [CONFIRMED]

    It’s official: Google’s fragmented, less-useful Image search has spread from the U.S. and is now affecting English-speaking countries all over the world.

    Google has confirmed that the previous SafeSearch changes that made it impossible for U.S. users to fully disable SafeSearch have been launched in English-speaking countries internationally.

    Although, it’s unlikely that Google would describe the changes in that fashion.

    What do you think of Google’s changes to SafeSearch? Do you want to be able to fully disable SafeSearch? Does it really matter to you? Let us know.

    Back in December, we told you that Google had made a change to its SafeSearch feature in the U.S. that made it impossible for users to entirely disable SafeSearch when searching for Images on the site.

    Long story short, Google has prevented users from disabling SafeSearch altogether in Image search. It’s important to note that this is different from Google censoring NSFW content. That’s all still there, in fact, it’s just that users must now be very specific in their queries in order to access it.

    For example, a Google Image search for “boobs” will now yield SFW results, by default. In order to find NSFW results for that query, you must now add a modifier – let’s say “boobs porn” or “boobs nude” for instance.

    Users used to be able to turn SafeSearch off, completely. There is a little box at the top right of SafeSearch that used to allow users to pick their level of SafeSearch: “STRICT,” “MODERATE,” and “OFF” completely. But now, Google only allows users to filter all explicit results.

    What’s more, Google users are no longer given the option to turn off all types of SafeSearch filtering within the Search Settings.

    If all of this sounds a little confusing – that’s because it is. Google has fragmented their Image search in an attempt to keep NSFW materials from popping up without a specifically explicit search.

    But here’s the gist of it, in plain English: A search for ‘boobs” in the U.S. (and other English-speaking countries) now yields SFW results, as Google Image Search is now defaulted to “MODERATE” level. Users are not allowed to fully turn off SafeSearch. In order to see those NSFW results, users have to be more specific with their searches.

    Here are your SafeSearch options for Google.co.uk, Google Australia, Google South Africa, and Google New Zealand, etc.:

    And here are the options in Germany:

    Notice the difference? We’ve tested this for other non-English-speaking countries like France and the Netherlands and have seen the same results that we have for Germany. It appears that, at least for the time being, non English-speaking countries have not been affected by the changes.

    “We are not censoring any adult content, and want to show users exactly what they are looking for — but we aim not to show sexually-explicit results unless a user is specifically searching for them. We use algorithms to select the most relevant results for a given query. If you’re looking for adult content, you can find it without having to change the default setting — you just may need to be more explicit in your query if your search terms are potentially ambiguous. The image search settings work the same way as in web search,” Google told me back in December when we first reported on the changes to SafeSearch.

    Still, Google has fragmented Image search and ultimately made it worse. Here’s what I said in regards to that last month:

    Ok, so the point here is that users need to be specific with their searches. Got it. Apologies for the frankness, but if I want to find blowjob images, I now have to search “blowjob porn.” There is now no way that I can edit my own personal settings to make a search for just “blowjob” yield all results, both NSFW and otherwise.

    In essence, Google is fragmenting their image search. A “no filter” search is a true search of the most popular images across the web. U.S. users no longer have this option. We’re now only given the choice between filtered results for “blowjob” or the most popular results for “blowjob porn.” That smattering of all results, both NSFW and SFW for the query “blowjob,” cannot be achieved anymore.

    Plus, is there really a question about what I’m looking for when I search “blowjob?” Do I really need to provide any more detail?

    It seems like a big gripe about a small change, and it is in a way. But one could make the argument that this actually is a form of censorship. If I go to Google images and search “blowjob,” I want to see the best of what the web has to offer – all of it. Not what Google thinks I should see based on their desire to prevent adult results unless users are super specific.

    Go ahead and try a search for “blowjob” on Google Images right now. Those aren’t really very relevant results, are they? Users should see the most relevant results for their searches, no matter what. And they should have the option to simply turn off the SafeSearch filter, which they all had just a couple of days ago.

    Google’s SafeSearch support page gives us steps for disabling SafeSearch, but it really only tells us how to turn off SafeSearch Filtering. That still leaves us with a “MODERATE” level SafeSearch and no true way to see all web results, both NSFW and SFW at once.

    Do you think this makes Google Image search worse? Are results less relevant now that Google is automatically filtering out potential NSFW images? Or are we making a mountain out of a molehill? Let us know in the comments.

    [Image via CharlesFred, Flickr]

  • Yahoo Earnings Better Than Expected With Some Help From Search

    Yahoo just released its earnings for the fourth quarter and full year 2012, beating analysts’ expectations, and perhaps more noteworthy, showing solid signs for Yahoo’s search business.

    GAAP revenue for the quarter was $1,346 million. For the year, it was $4,987 million. Revenue ex-TAC for the quarter were $1,221 million. For the year, they were $4,468 million. Non-GAAP income from operations was $283 million. For the year, it was $825 million.

    GAAP search revenue for the quarter was $482 million, up 4% year-over-year. GAAP search revenue was $1,886 million for the year, up 2% year-over-year. Search revenue ex-TAC was $427 million for the quarte (up 14% year-over-year) and $1,611 million for the year (up 9% year-over-year). Paid clicks were up 11% year-over-year and 8% quarter over quarter. PPCs increased by 1% year-over-year, but decreased by 2% quarter-over-quarter.

    CEO Marissa Mayer said, “I’m proud of Yahoo!’s 2012 and fourth quarter results. In 2012, Yahoo! exhibited revenue growth for the first time in 4 years, with revenue up 2 percent year-over-year. During the quarter we made progress by growing our executive team, signing key partnerships including those with NBC Sports and CBS Television, and launching terrific mobile experiences for Yahoo! Mail and Flickr. At the same time, we achieved tremendous internal transformation in the culture, energy and execution of the Company.”

    Here’s the release in its entirety:

    SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) today reported results for the fourth quarter and full year endedDecember 31, 2012.

    Q4 2012 Full Year 2012
    GAAP revenue $1,346 million $4,987 million
    Revenue ex-TAC $1,221 million $4,468 million
    GAAP income from operations $190 million $566 million
    Non-GAAP income from operations $283 million $825 million
    GAAP net earnings per diluted share $0.23 $3.28
    Non-GAAP net earnings per diluted share $0.32 $1.17

    “I’m proud of Yahoo!’s 2012 and fourth quarter results. In 2012, Yahoo! exhibited revenue growth for the first time in 4 years, with revenue up 2 percent year-over-year,” said Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer. “During the quarter we made progress by growing our executive team, signing key partnerships including those with NBC Sports and CBS Television, and launching terrific mobile experiences for Yahoo! Mail and Flickr. At the same time, we achieved tremendous internal transformation in the culture, energy and execution of the Company.”

    GAAP revenue was $1,346 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, a 2 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2011. Revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs (“revenue ex-TAC”) was $1,221 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, a 4 percent increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. GAAP revenue was $4,987 million for the full year of 2012, flat compared to the prior year. Revenue ex-TAC was $4,468 million for the full year of 2012, a 2 percent increase from the prior year.

    Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2012 was $509 million, an 8 percent increase from the same period of 2011. Adjusted EBITDA was$1,699 million for the full year of 2012, a 3 percent increase from the prior year.

    GAAP income from operations decreased 22 percent to $190 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to $242 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. Non-GAAP income from operations was $283 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to $259 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. GAAP income from operations for the full year of 2012 was $566 million, compared to $800 million for the prior year. Non-GAAP income from operations was $825 million in both years.

    GAAP net earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012 was $272 million, an 8 percent decrease from the same period of 2011. Non-GAAP net earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012 was $370 million, a 20 percent increase from the same period of 2011. GAAP net earnings for the full year of 2012 was $3,945 million, compared to $1,049 million for the prior year. For the full year of 2012, GAAP net earnings included a net gain of $2,755 million related to the sale of Alibaba shares. Non-GAAP net earnings for the full year of 2012 was $1,407 million, a 35 percent increase from the prior year.

    GAAP net earnings per diluted share was $0.23 in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to $0.24 in the fourth quarter of 2011. Non-GAAP net earnings per diluted share was $0.32 in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to $0.25 in the fourth quarter of 2011. GAAP net earnings per diluted share was $3.28 for the full year of 2012, compared to $0.82 for the prior year. For the full year of 2012, GAAP net earnings included a net gain of $2,755 million, or $2.29 per diluted share, related to the sale of Alibaba shares. Non-GAAP net earnings per diluted share was$1.17 for the full year of 2012, compared to $0.81 for the prior year.

    Business Highlights

    • Yahoo! further strengthened its board of directors, appointing Max Levchin, a computer scientist, serial entrepreneur and angel investor with extensive experience building enduring Internet companies.
    • The Company made significant improvements to two of its core products, Yahoo! Mail and Flickr. The new Yahoo! Mail is faster, easier to use and available across the Web and on Windows 8, iPhone/iPod touch and Android. Yahoo!’s redesigned Flickr app for iPhone and iPod touch makes it easier to capture, share and discover photos. The new app allows users to share photos by email, with the Flickr community or via Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr.
    • Yahoo! signed distribution and branding deals to strengthen two of its leading media properties.
      • Yahoo! Sports and NBC Sports announced a partnership to deliver news, fantasy games, and video coverage of sporting events — combining two of the most trusted names in sports.
      • Yahoo! and CBS Television Distribution launched omg! Insider, a multiplatform entertainment news series that combines the popularity of CBS Television Distribution’s The Insider with the online reach of omg!.
    • The Company also announced a deal with Wenner Media to further enhance the content and reach of omg! and Yahoo! Music by joining forces with the Us Weekly, Rolling Stone, and Men’s Journal franchises.
    • Yahoo! acquired mobile app developers Stamped and OnTheAir, accelerating the Company’s efforts to build a world-class team of mobile engineers, product managers and designers.
    • Yahoo! expanded its partnership with Samsung, enabling Samsung SmartTV users to engage more with their favorite shows and commercials. With the touch of a remote, connected tablet or phone, Samsung SmartTV viewers who use Yahoo!’s Connected TV technologies, can easily access content or offers related to their favorite TV shows or commercials.

    Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2012 Financial Highlights

    Display

    • GAAP display revenue was $591 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, a 3 percent decrease compared to $612 million for the fourth quarter of 2011. GAAP display revenue was $2,143 million for the full year of 2012, a 1 percent decrease compared to $2,160 millionfor the prior year.
    • Display revenue ex-TAC was $520 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, a 5 percent decrease compared to $546 million for the fourth quarter of 2011. Display revenue ex-TAC was $1,899 million for the full year of 2012, a 2 percent decrease compared to $1,932 millionfor the prior year.
    • The number of ads sold on core Yahoo! Properties decreased approximately 10 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 and increased approximately 3 percent compared to the third quarter of 2012.
    • Price-per-ad on core Yahoo! Properties increased approximately 7 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 and increased approximately 15 percent compared to the third quarter of 2012.

    Search

    • GAAP search revenue was $482 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, a 4 percent increase compared to $465 million for the fourth quarter of 2011. GAAP search revenue was $1,886 million for the full year of 2012, a 2 percent increase compared to $1,853 million for the prior year.
    • Search revenue ex-TAC was $427 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, a 14 percent increase compared to $376 million for the fourth quarter of 2011. Search revenue ex-TAC was $1,611 million for the full year of 2012, a 9 percent increase compared to $1,478 millionfor the prior year.
    • Paid clicks, or the number of clicks on sponsored listings on Yahoo! Properties and Affiliate sites, increased approximately 11 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 and increased approximately 8 percent compared to the third quarter of 2012.
    • Price-per-click increased approximately 1 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 and decreased approximately 2 percent compared to the third quarter of 2012.

    Cash Balance

    • Cash, cash equivalents, and investments in marketable debt securities were $6 billion at December 31, 2012 compared to $2.5 billionat December 31, 2011, an increase of $3.5 billion.
    • During the fourth quarter of 2012, Yahoo! repurchased 80 million shares for $1.5 billion. During the year ended December 31, 2012,Yahoo! repurchased 126 million shares for $2.2 billion.

    Conference Call

    Yahoo! will host a conference call to discuss fourth quarter and full year 2012 results at 5 p.m. Eastern Time today. On the conference call,Yahoo! will also provide its business outlook for the first quarter and full year of 2013. A live Webcast of the conference call, together with supplemental financial information, can be accessed through the Company’s Investor Relations Website athttp://investor.yahoo.com/results.cfm. In addition, an archive of the Webcast can be accessed through the same link. An audio replay of the call will be available for one week following the conference call by calling (888) 286-8010 or (617) 801-6888, reservation number: 30622830.

    Non-GAAP Financial Measures

    This press release and its attachments include the following financial measures defined as non-GAAP financial measures by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”): revenue ex-TAC; adjusted EBITDA; non-GAAP income from operations; non-GAAP net earnings; non-GAAP net earnings per diluted share; and free cash flow.

    Revenue ex-TAC is GAAP revenue less traffic acquisition costs. Adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP income from operations, non-GAAP net earnings and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share exclude certain gains, losses, and expenses that we do not believe are indicative of ongoing results. Adjusted EBITDA also excludes taxes, depreciation, amortization of intangible assets, stock-based compensation expense, other income, net (which includes interest), earnings in equity interests, and net income attributable to noncontrolling interests. Free cash flow is GAAP net cash provided by (used in) operating activities (adjusted to include excess tax benefits from stock-based awards), less acquisition of property and equipment, net and dividends received from equity investees.

    These measures may be different than non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. The presentation of this financial information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). Explanations of the Company’s non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations of these financial measures to the GAAP financial measures the Company considers most comparable are included in the accompanying “Note to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements,” “Supplemental Financial Data and GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliations,” and “GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliations.”

    About Yahoo!

    Yahoo! is focused on making the world’s daily habits inspiring and entertaining. By creating highly personalized experiences for our users, we keep people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the globe. In turn, we create value for advertisers by connecting them with the audiences that build their businesses. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., and has offices located throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific (APAC) and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the company blog (yodel.yahoo.com).

    “Affiliates” refers to the third-party entities that have integrated Yahoo!’s advertising offerings into their Websites or other offerings (those Websites and other offerings, “Affiliate sites”).

    “Alibaba” means Alibaba Group Holding Limited.

    “Search Agreement” refers to the Search and Advertising Services and Sales Agreement between Yahoo! and Microsoft Corporation, as amended.

    “TAC” refers to traffic acquisition costs. TAC consists of payments to Affiliates and payments made to companies that direct consumer and business traffic to Yahoo! Properties.

    “Yahoo! Properties” refers to the online properties and services that Yahoo! provides to users.

    This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Yahoo!’s expected financial performance and Yahoo!’s strategic and operational plans (including, without limitation, the quotation from management). Risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ materially from the results predicted, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the impact of changes to our management, organizational structure and strategic business plan;Yahoo!’s ability to compete with new or existing competitors; reduction in spending by, or loss of, advertising customers; risks associated with the Search Agreement with Microsoft Corporation; risks related to Yahoo!’s regulatory environment; interruptions or delays in the provision of Yahoo!’s services; security breaches; acceptance by users of new products and services; risks related to joint ventures and the integration of acquisitions; risks related to Yahoo!’s international operations; adverse results in litigation; Yahoo!’s ability to protect its intellectual property and the value of its brands; dependence on third parties for technology, services, content, and distribution; and general economic conditions. All information set forth in this press release and its attachments is as of January 28, 2013. Yahoo! does not intend, and undertakes no duty, to update this information to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. More information about potential factors that could affect the Company’s business and financial results is included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, as amended, and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2012, which are on file with the SEC and available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in those sections in Yahoo!’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, which will be filed with the SEC in the first quarter of 2013.

    Yahoo!, the Yahoo! logos, omg! and Flickr are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

    Yahoo! Inc.
    Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
    (in thousands)
    December 31, December 31,
    2011 2012
    ASSETS
    Current assets:
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 1,562,390 $ 2,667,778
    Short-term marketable debt securities 493,189 1,516,175
    Accounts receivable, net 1,037,474 1,008,448
    Prepaid expenses and other current assets 359,483 460,312
    Total current assets 3,452,536 5,652,713
    Long-term marketable debt securities 474,338 1,838,425
    Alibaba Group Preference Shares – 816,261
    Property and equipment, net 1,730,888 1,685,845
    Goodwill 3,900,752 3,826,749
    Intangible assets, net 254,600 153,973
    Other long-term assets 220,628 289,130
    Investments in equity interests 4,749,044 2,840,157
    Total assets $ 14,782,786 $ 17,103,253
    LIABILITIES AND EQUITY
    Current liabilities:
    Accounts payable $ 166,595 $ 184,831
    Accrued expenses and other current liabilities 846,044 808,475
    Deferred revenue 194,722 296,926
    Total current liabilities 1,207,361 1,290,232
    Long-term deferred revenue 43,639 407,560
    Capital lease and other long-term liabilities 134,905 124,587
    Deferred and other long-term tax liabilities, net 815,534 675,271
    Total liabilities 2,201,439 2,497,650
    Total Yahoo! Inc. stockholders’ equity 12,541,067 14,560,200
    Noncontrolling interests 40,280 45,403
    Total equity 12,581,347 14,605,603
    Total liabilities and equity $ 14,782,786 $ 17,103,253

     

    Yahoo! Inc.
    Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income
    (in thousands, except per share amounts)
    Three Months Ended Year Ended
    December 31, December 31,
    2011 2012 2011 2012
    Revenue $ 1,324,153 $ 1,345,807 $ 4,984,199 $ 4,986,566
    Operating expenses:
    Cost of revenue – Traffic acquisition costs 155,453 124,961 603,371 518,906
    Cost of revenue – Other 263,609 287,147 983,626 1,101,660
    Sales and marketing 289,366 274,122 1,122,193 1,101,572
    Product development 235,810 240,417 919,368 885,824
    General and administrative 112,614 144,610 497,288 540,247
    Amortization of intangibles 8,525 7,926 33,592 35,819
    Restructuring charges, net 16,329 76,634 24,420 236,170
    Total operating expenses 1,081,706 1,155,817 4,183,858 4,420,198
    Income from operations 242,447 189,990 800,341 566,368
    Other income, net 9,768 17,730 27,175 4,647,839
    Income before income taxes and earnings in equity interests 252,215 207,720 827,516 5,214,207
    Provision for income taxes (78,287 ) (83,007 ) (241,767 ) (1,940,043 )
    Earnings in equity interests 127,063 148,939 476,920 676,438
    Net income 300,991 273,652 1,062,669 3,950,602
    Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests (5,419 ) (1,385 ) (13,842 ) (5,123 )
    Net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc. $ 295,572 $ 272,267 $ 1,048,827 $ 3,945,479
    Net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc. common stockholders per share – diluted $ 0.24 $ 0.23 $ 0.82 $ 3.28
    Shares used in per share calculation – diluted 1,241,009 1,168,336 1,282,282 1,202,906
    Stock-based compensation expense by function:
    Cost of revenue – Other $ 1,010 $ 2,207 $ 3,489 $ 10,078
    Sales and marketing 22,291 22,161 65,120 82,115
    Product development 25,291 19,955 89,587 74,284
    General and administrative 10,255 13,139 45,762 57,888
    Restructuring expense accelerations (reversals), net 1,492 – 214 (3,429 )
    Supplemental Financial Data:
    Revenue ex-TAC $ 1,168,700 $ 1,220,846 $ 4,380,828 $ 4,467,660
    Adjusted EBITDA $ 469,453 $ 509,024 $ 1,654,583 $ 1,698,839
    Free cash flow(1)(2) $ 327,013 $ (2,044,502 ) $ 725,801 $ (834,865 )
    (1) The year ended December 31, 2012 includes a payment of $550 million from Alibaba in satisfaction of certain future royalty payments under the existing technology and intellectual property license agreement with Alibaba.
    (2) The three months and year ended December 31, 2012 include a cash tax payment of $2.3 billion which is related to the sale of Alibabashares.

     

    Yahoo! Inc.
    Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
    (in thousands)
    Three Months Ended Year Ended
    December 31, December 31,
    2011 2012 2011 2012
    CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES:
    Net income $ 300,991 $ 273,652 $ 1,062,669 $ 3,950,602
    Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
    Depreciation 125,693 148,213 530,516 549,235
    Amortization of intangible assets 29,939 21,279 117,723 105,366
    Stock-based compensation expense, net 60,339 57,462 204,172 220,936
    Non-cash restructuring charges 990 69,434 990 109,896
    Accrued dividend income related to Alibaba Group Preference Shares – (20,000 ) – (20,000 )
    Tax benefits (detriments) from stock-based awards 23,523 (21,969 ) 33,497 (31,440 )
    Excess tax benefits from stock-based awards (25,966 ) (5,093 ) (70,680 ) (35,844 )
    Deferred income taxes 1,652 121,968 70,392 (769,320 )
    Earnings in equity interests (127,063 ) (148,939 ) (476,920 ) (676,438 )
    Dividends received from Yahoo Japan – – 75,391 83,648
    Gain related to sale of Alibaba Group shares – – – (4,603,322 )
    Gain from sale of investments, assets, and other, net (8,416 ) 6,468 4,405 (11,840 )
    Changes in assets and liabilities, net of effects of acquisitions:
    Accounts receivable, net (117,992 ) (52,190 ) 38,100 34,752
    Prepaid expenses and other 87,441 37,470 97,849 78,529
    Accounts payable 27,000 35,204 (316 ) 12,747
    Accrued expenses and other liabilities 61,012 (2,373,163 ) (290,070 ) 255,799
    Deferred revenue (7,809 ) (49,671 ) (73,912 ) 465,140
    Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities (1)(2) 431,334 (1,899,875 ) 1,323,806 (281,554 )
    CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
    Acquisition of property and equipment, net (130,287 ) (149,720 ) (593,294 ) (505,507 )
    Purchases of marketable debt securities (95,232 ) (1,681,467 ) (1,708,530 ) (3,520,327 )
    Proceeds from sales of marketable debt securities 441,719 56,968 1,508,948 741,947
    Proceeds from maturities of marketable debt securities 89,305 130,750 1,316,197 381,403
    Proceeds related to sale of Alibaba shares, net – – – 6,247,728
    Purchases of intangible assets (799 ) (711 ) (11,819 ) (3,799 )
    Proceeds from the sale of investments – – 21,271 26,132
    Acquisitions, net of cash acquired (255,018 ) (5,716 ) (323,830 ) (5,716 )
    Other investing activities, net (818 ) 9,604 (6,581 ) 183
    Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities 48,870 (1,640,292 ) 202,362 3,362,044
    CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
    Proceeds from issuance of common stock, net 49,529 101,951 156,226 218,371
    Repurchases of common stock (416,237 ) (1,451,462 ) (1,618,741 ) (2,167,841 )
    Excess tax benefits from stock-based awards 25,966 5,093 70,680 35,844
    Tax withholdings related to net share settlements of restricted stock awards and restricted stock units (8,712 ) (12,842 ) (44,761 ) (60,939 )
    Other financing activities, net (11,029 ) (1,373 ) (19,362 ) (4,892 )
    Net cash used in financing activities (360,483 ) (1,358,633 ) (1,455,958 ) (1,979,457 )
    Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents (21,550 ) 6,178 (34,247 ) 4,355
    Net change in cash and cash equivalents 98,171 (4,892,622 ) 35,963 1,105,388
    Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 1,464,219 7,560,400 1,526,427 1,562,390
    Cash and cash equivalents, end of period $ 1,562,390 $ 2,667,778 $ 1,562,390 $ 2,667,778
    (1) The year ended December 31, 2012 includes a payment of $550 million from Alibaba in satisfaction of certain future royalty payments under the existing technology and intellectual property license agreement with Alibaba.
    (2) The three months and year ended December 31, 2012 include a cash tax payment of $2.3 billion which is related to the sale of Alibabashares.

     

    Yahoo! Inc.

    Note to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

    This press release and its attachments include the non-GAAP financial measures of revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs (“revenue ex-TAC”); adjusted EBITDA; non-GAAP income from operations; non-GAAP net earnings; non-GAAP net earnings per diluted share; and free cash flow, which are reconciled to revenue; net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc. (in the case of adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP net earnings); income from operations; net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc. common stockholders per share — diluted; and net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, which we believe are the most comparable GAAP measures. We use these non-GAAP financial measures for internal managerial purposes and to facilitate period-to-period comparisons. We describe limitations specific to each non-GAAP financial measure below. Management generally compensates for limitations in the use of non-GAAP financial measures by relying on comparable GAAP financial measures and providing investors with a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measure to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure or measures. Further, management uses non-GAAP financial measures only in addition to and in conjunction with results presented in accordance with GAAP. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures reflect an additional way of viewing aspects of our operations that, when viewed with our GAAP results, provide a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting our business. These non-GAAP measures should be considered as a supplement to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, revenue, net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc., income from operations, net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc. common stockholders per share – diluted and net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, calculated in accordance with GAAP.

    Revenue ex-TAC is a non-GAAP financial measure defined as GAAP revenue less TAC. TAC consists of payments made to third-party entities that have integrated our advertising offerings into their Websites or other offerings (those Websites and other offerings, “Affiliate sites”) and payments made to companies that direct consumer and business traffic to Yahoo!’s online properties and services (“Yahoo! Properties”). Based on the terms of the Search Agreement with Microsoft, Microsoft retains a revenue share of 12 percent of the net (after TAC) search revenue generated on Yahoo! Properties and Affiliate sites in transitioned markets. Yahoo! reports the net revenue it receives under the Search Agreement as revenue and no longer presents the associated TAC. Accordingly, for transitioned markets Yahoo! reports GAAP revenue associated with the Search Agreement on a net (after TAC) basis rather than a gross basis. For markets that have not yet transitioned, revenue continues to be recorded on a gross basis, and TAC is recorded as a part of operating expenses. We present revenue ex-TAC to provide investors a metric used by the Company for evaluation and decision-making purposes during the Microsoft transition and to provide investors with comparable revenue numbers when comparing periods preceding, during and following the transition period. A limitation of revenue ex-TAC is that it is a measure which we have defined for internal and investor purposes that may be unique to the Company, and therefore it may not enhance the comparability of our results to other companies in our industry who have similar business arrangements but address the impact of TAC differently. Management compensates for these limitations by also relying on the comparable GAAP financial measures of revenue and total operating expenses, which includes TAC in non-transitioned markets.

    Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc. before taxes, depreciation, amortization of intangible assets, stock-based compensation expense, other income, net (which includes interest), earnings in equity interests, net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and other gains, losses, and expenses that we do not believe are indicative of our ongoing results. Yahoo! presents adjusted EBITDA because the exclusion of certain gains, losses, and expenses facilitates comparisons of the operating performance of our Company on a period to period basis. Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results reported under GAAP. These limitations include: adjusted EBITDA does not reflect tax payments and such payments reflect a reduction in cash available to us; adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the periodic costs of certain capitalized tangible and intangible assets used in generating revenues in our businesses; adjusted EBITDA does not include stock-based compensation expense related to the Company’s workforce; adjusted EBITDA also excludes other income, net (which includes interest), earnings in equity interests, net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and other gains, losses, and expenses that we do not believe are indicative of our ongoing results, and these items may represent a reduction or increase in cash available to us; and adjusted EBITDA is a measure that may be unique to the Company, and therefore it may not enhance the comparability of our results to other companies in our industry. Management compensates for these limitations by also relying on the comparable GAAP financial measure of net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc., which includes taxes, depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation expense, other income, net (which includes interest), earnings in equity interests, net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and the other gains, losses and expenses that are excluded from adjusted EBITDA.

    Non-GAAP income from operations is defined as income from operations excluding certain gains, losses, and expenses that we do not believe are indicative of our ongoing operating results. We consider non-GAAP income from operations to be a profitability measure which facilitates the forecasting of our operating results for future periods and allows for the comparison of our results to historical periods. A limitation of non-GAAP income from operations is that it does not include all items that impact our income from operations for the period. Management compensates for this limitation by also relying on the comparable GAAP financial measure of income from operations which includes the gains, losses, and expenses that are excluded from non-GAAP income from operations.

    Non-GAAP net earnings is defined as net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc. excluding certain gains, losses, expenses, and their related tax effects that we do not believe are indicative of our ongoing results. We consider non-GAAP net earnings and non-GAAP net earnings per diluted share to be profitability measures which facilitate the forecasting of our results for future periods and allow for the comparison of our results to historical periods. A limitation of non-GAAP net earnings and non-GAAP net earnings per diluted share is that they do not include all items that impact our net income and net income per diluted share for the period. Management compensates for this limitation by also relying on the comparable GAAP financial measures of net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc. and net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc.common stockholders per share – diluted, both of which include the gains, losses, expenses and related tax effects that are excluded from non-GAAP net earnings and non-GAAP net earnings per diluted share.

    Free cash flow is a non-GAAP financial measure defined as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities (adjusted to include excess tax benefits from stock-based awards), less acquisition of property and equipment, net and dividends received from equity investees. We consider free cash flow to be a liquidity measure which provides useful information to management and investors about the amount of cash generated by the business after the acquisition of property and equipment, which can then be used for strategic opportunities including, among others, investing in the Company’s business, making strategic acquisitions, strengthening the balance sheet, and repurchasing stock. A limitation of free cash flow is that it does not represent the total increase or decrease in the cash balance for the period. Management compensates for this limitation by also relying on the net change in cash and cash equivalents as presented in the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated statements of cash flows prepared in accordance with GAAP which incorporates all cash movements during the period.

    Yahoo! Inc.
    Supplemental Financial Data and GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliations
    (in thousands)
    Three Months Ended Year Ended
    December 31, December 31,
    2011 2012 2011 2012
    Revenue for groups of similar services:
    Display $ 612,047 $ 590,627 $ 2,160,309 $ 2,142,818
    Search 464,530 481,957 1,853,110 1,885,860
    Other 247,576 273,223 970,780 957,888
    Total revenue $ 1,324,153 $ 1,345,807 $ 4,984,199 $ 4,986,566
    Revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs (“revenue ex-TAC”) for groups of similar services:
    GAAP display revenue $ 612,047 $ 590,627 $ 2,160,309 $ 2,142,818
    TAC associated with display revenue (66,426 ) (70,218 ) (227,822 ) (243,557 )
    Display revenue ex-TAC $ 545,621 $ 520,409 $ 1,932,487 $ 1,899,261
    GAAP search revenue $ 464,530 $ 481,957 $ 1,853,110 $ 1,885,860
    TAC associated with search revenue for non-transitioned markets (89,027 ) (54,743 ) (375,409 ) (275,349 )
    Search revenue ex-TAC $ 375,503 $ 427,214 $ 1,477,701 $ 1,610,511
    Other GAAP revenue $ 247,576 $ 273,223 $ 970,780 $ 957,888
    TAC associated with other GAAP revenue – – (140 ) –
    Other revenue ex-TAC $ 247,576 $ 273,223 $ 970,640 $ 957,888
    Revenue ex-TAC:
    GAAP revenue $ 1,324,153 $ 1,345,807 $ 4,984,199 $ 4,986,566
    TAC (155,453 ) (124,961 ) (603,371 ) (518,906 )
    Revenue ex-TAC $ 1,168,700 $ 1,220,846 $ 4,380,828 $ 4,467,660
    Revenue ex-TAC by segment:
    Americas:
    GAAP revenue $ 884,780 $ 960,118 $ 3,302,989 $ 3,461,633
    TAC (45,072 ) (52,357 ) (160,110 ) (182,511 )
    Revenue ex-TAC $ 839,708 $ 907,761 $ 3,142,879 $ 3,279,122
    EMEA:
    GAAP revenue $ 164,238 $ 113,527 $ 629,383 $ 472,061
    TAC (54,559 ) (16,982 ) (221,916 ) (114,230 )
    Revenue ex-TAC $ 109,679 $ 96,545 $ 407,467 $ 357,831
    Asia Pacific:
    GAAP revenue $ 275,135 $ 272,162 $ 1,051,827 $ 1,052,872
    TAC (55,822 ) (55,622 ) (221,345 ) (222,165 )
    Revenue ex-TAC $ 219,313 $ 216,540 $ 830,482 $ 830,707
    Total revenue ex-TAC $ 1,168,700 $ 1,220,846 $ 4,380,828 $ 4,467,660
    Direct costs by segment (3):
    Americas $ 187,467 $ 183,236 $ 696,103 $ 733,316
    EMEA 41,615 41,325 165,750 161,990
    Asia Pacific 55,361 60,046 225,417 224,114
    Global operating costs (4) 414,804 443,272 1,638,975 1,671,958
    Restructuring charges, net 16,329 76,634 24,420 236,170
    Depreciation and amortization 151,830 168,769 625,864 649,267
    Stock-based compensation expense 58,847 57,574 203,958 224,477
    Income from operations $ 242,447 $ 189,990 $ 800,341 $ 566,368
             
    Reconciliation of net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc. to adjusted EBITDA:
    Net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc. $ 295,572 $ 272,267 $ 1,048,827 $ 3,945,479
    Costs associated with the Korea business and its closure (5) – 99,485 – 99,485
    Deal-related costs related to the sale of Alibaba shares – – – 6,500
    Depreciation and amortization 151,830 168,769 625,864 649,267
    Stock-based compensation expense 58,847 57,574 203,958 224,477
    Restructuring charges, net (5) 16,329 (6,794 ) 24,420 152,742
    Other income, net  (9,768 )  (17,730 )  (27,175 )  (4,647,839 )
    Provision for income taxes  78,287  83,007  241,767  1,940,043
    Earnings in equity interests  (127,063 )  (148,939 )  (476,920 )  (676,438 )
    Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests  5,419  1,385  13,842  5,123
    Adjusted EBITDA $ 469,453 $ 509,024 $ 1,654,583 $ 1,698,839
    Reconciliation of net cash provided by (used in) operating activities to free cash flow:  
    Cash provided by (used in) operating activities $ 431,334 $ (1,899,875 ) $ 1,323,806 $ (281,554 )
    Acquisition of property and equipment, net (130,287 ) (149,720 ) (593,294 ) (505,507 )
    Dividends received from equity investees – – (75,391 ) (83,648 )
    Excess tax benefits from stock-based awards 25,966 5,093 70,680 35,844
    Free cash flow (1)(2) $ 327,013 $ (2,044,502 ) $ 725,801 $ (834,865 )
    (1) The year ended December 31, 2012 includes a payment of $550 million from Alibaba in satisfaction of certain future royalty payments under the existing technology and intellectual property license agreement with Alibaba.
    (2) The three months and year ended December 31, 2012 include a cash tax payment of $2.3 billion which is related to the sale of Alibabashares.
    (3) Direct costs for each segment include cost of revenue (excluding TAC) and other operating expenses that are directly attributable to the segment such as employee compensation expense (excluding stock-based compensation expense), local sales and marketing expenses, and facilities expenses. Beginning in 2012, marketing and customer advocacy costs are managed locally and included as direct costs for each segment. Prior period amounts have been revised to conform to the current presentation.
    (4) Global operating costs include product development, service engineering and operations, general and administrative, and other corporate expenses that are managed on a global basis and that are not directly attributable to any particular segment. Prior to 2012, marketing and customer advocacy costs were managed on a global basis and included as global operating costs. Prior period amounts have been revised to conform to the current presentation.
    (5) For the three months and year ended December 31, 2012, costs associated with the Korea business and its closure include $83 million of restructuring charges.

     

    Yahoo! Inc.
    GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliations
    (in thousands, except per share amounts)
    Three Months Ended
    December 31,
    2011 2012
    GAAP Income from operations $ 242,447 $ 189,990
    (a) Costs associated with the Korea business and its closure – 99,485
    (b) Restructuring charges, net (6) 16,329 (6,794 )
    Non-GAAP Income from operations $ 258,776 $ 282,681
    GAAP Net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc. $ 295,572 $ 272,267
    (a) Costs associated with the Korea business and its closure – 99,485
    (b) Restructuring charges, net (6) 16,329 (6,794 )
    (c) To adjust the provision for income taxes to exclude the tax impact of items (a) and (b) above for the three months ended December 31, 2011 and 2012 (5,192 ) 4,626
    Non-GAAP Net earnings $ 306,709 $ 369,584
    GAAP Net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc. common stockholders per share – diluted $ 0.24 $ 0.23
    Non-GAAP Net earnings per share – diluted $ 0.25 $ 0.32
    Shares used in per share calculation – diluted 1,241,009 1,168,336
    Year Ended
    December 31,
    2011 2012
    GAAP Income from operations $ 800,341 $ 566,368
    (a) Costs associated with the Korea business and its closure – 99,485
    (b) Restructuring charges, net (6) 24,420 152,742
    (c) Deal-related costs related to the sale of Alibaba shares – 6,500
    Non-GAAP Income from operations $ 824,761 $ 825,095
    GAAP Net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc. $ 1,048,827 $ 3,945,479
    (a) Costs associated with the Korea business and its closure – 99,485
    (b) Restructuring charges, net (6) 24,420 152,742
    (c) Deal-related costs related to the sale of Alibaba shares – 6,500
    (d) Gain related to sale of Alibaba shares – (4,603,322 )
    (e) Non-cash gain related to the dilution of the Company’s ownership interest in Alibaba Group, which is included in earnings in equity interests (25,083 ) –
    (f) To adjust the provision for income taxes to exclude the tax impact of items (a) through (d) above for the year ended December 31, 2011 and 2012 (7,764 ) 1,805,940
    Non-GAAP Net earnings $ 1,040,400 $ 1,406,824
    GAAP Net income attributable to Yahoo! Inc. common stockholders per share – diluted $ 0.82 $ 3.28
    Non-GAAP Net earnings per share – diluted $ 0.81 $ 1.17
    Shares used in per share calculation – diluted 1,282,282 1,202,906
    (6) For the three months and year ended December 31, 2012, this amount excludes the restructuring charges related to the Korea business and its closure of $83 million, which is included in item (a) above.

     

    Yahoo! Inc.

  • Google Adds Regions To Flight Search

    Google Adds Regions To Flight Search

    Google has updated its Flight Search tool to let users search for regions. Now, you can search for places in addition to just airports. Google made the announcement on its ITA Software blog. ITA Software is, of course, what powers the Flight Search feature.

    “Let’s say you want to take your family to Hawaii for spring break, but you’re not sure which of the islands sounds most appealing,” says Google software engineer Peter Balsiger. “There is now a way to quickly and easily search for a broader set of destination information. In this case, instead of checking prices to Kailua-Kona or Kahului, you could type ‘Hawaii’ into Flight Search. Live prices would then appear on the map, so you can quickly compare the cost of the different options.”

    “Whether you’re planning a trip on your desktop, tablet or phone, you can use Flight Search to search for countries, states, islands and even continents from any U.S. or Canadian origin,” he adds.

    Balsiger encourages users to try searches like “Australia,” “Europe” or “Florida”.

    Last month, Google upgraded Flight Search with a handful of new features, including Flight Explorer, which lets you browse flights by trip length, number of stops, airline, duration, outbound times and return times. The feature is still under the “experimental” label.

    Also in December, MileWise began letting its users search with its ITA Software QPX pricing and shopping technology on their iPhones.

  • Yandex Launches Social Search App Wonder Aimed At US

    Update: Facebook has pulled data from Wonder. More here.

    Russian search engine company Yandex has launched a new social search app for the iPhone and iPod Touch for people in the U.S. It’s called Wonder, and taps into Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, iTunes, and Last.fm to provide answers to questions based on data from your friends, as well as location and music info and options (such as previewing and purchasing songs).

    Take a look:

    Wonder by Yandex Labs from Yandex Labs on Vimeo.

    The app uses natural language voice search first and foremost, but includes a keyboard input option. Right now, it only works in English and understands a few types of questions pertaining to places, music and news. It utilizes speech recognition and text-to-speech technology from Nuance Communications. Here are some examples Yandex provides for the types of questions it works for:

    – If you are looking for a proven sushi place in New York, you can just ask: what sushi restaurants do my friends go to in New York?

    – When you are looking for coffee shops in a new area, you can ask: coffee shops nearby.

    – If you need to catch up with your friends on a Friday night, just ask: where do my friends party?

    – You know your friend John has a good taste for music, ask: what music does John listen to?

    – Feel like listening to electronic music, ask: I wonder what electronic music are my friends listening to?

    – Want to catch up on news, ask: news shared by my friends.

    Wonder’s launch comes at an interesting time, amidst a slow roll-out of Facebook’s own attempt at social search. Of course this is a mobile app, and Facebook’s launch does not include mobile (though that will come in time). It’s unclear whether or not Yandex intends to release Wonder on Android.

  • Google: New Image Search Increases Clicks To Sites

    Google announced the launch of a new format for its Image Search. If you’re not already seeing it, you should within the next few days as it continues to roll out.

    The new design displays the image’s metdata below the image in the search results, rather than taking users to a separate landing page. Frankly, this is probably something Google should have done a long time ago. Additionally, the title of the page, the domain name, and the image size are feature more prominently.

    “People looking for images on Google often want to browse through many images, looking both at the images and their metadata (detailed information about the images). Based on feedback from both users and webmasters, we redesigned Google Images to provide a better search experience,” says associate product manager Hongyi Li. “In the next few days, you’ll see image results displayed in an inline panel so it’s faster, more beautiful, and more reliable. You will be able to quickly flip through a set of images by using the keyboard. If you want to go back to browsing other search results, just scroll down and pick up right where you left off.”

    According to Google, the changes will benefit webmasters, as the company claims that in internal testing, it has seen a net increase in the average click-through rate to the hosting site. This is attributed to how the domain name now being clickable and a button they’ve added to visit the page the image is hosted on.

    “This means that there are now four clickable targets to the source page instead of just two,” says Li.

    Source pages will no longer load an iFrame in the background of the image detail view, which makes the image-browsing experience faster. Again, Google probably should have done this a long time ago, especially considering the emphasis they’ve been putting on speeding up the user experience in recent years. Google says the move reduces the load on the source site’s servers, and improves the accuracy of metrics like page views.

    Image search query data will continue to be available in Top Search Queries in Webmaster Tools.

  • SEOmoz’s Acquisition Spree Culminates With AudienceWise

    SEOmoz announced that it has acquired AudienceWise, as the latest in a spree of acquisitions kicked off by an $18 million round of funding the company received last year from The Foundry Group and Ignition Partners. Other acquisitions have included Followerwonk and GetListed.

    “AudienceWise marks the culmination of our acquisition spree for this year,” SEOmoz CEO Rand Fishkin tells WebProNews. “Moving forward in 2013, our focus will be on accelerating our product roadmap and leveraging all the resources we’ve acquired over the last five months. The remainder of 2013 will be dedicated to putting our money where our mouth is: investing in our foundations, and ramping up our product offerings to SEOmoz’s 20,000+ users and our 300,000+ online community members.”

    AudienceWise was a company specializing in audience development consulting for publishers and e-commerce sites, but its team will now be integrated into SEOmoz’s as a talent acquisition, though SEOmoz does say it will incorporate some of AudienceWise’s technical processes, strategy and products into the Moz toolkit.

    “The main motivators for acquiring AudienceWise are the brains behind the operation, Matthew Brown and Tim Resnik,” says Fishkin. “Matt and Tim are joining Moz to help us scale our in-house marketing and grow our product expertise. Both have built software products in the past (Matt worked with Marshall on SearchCLU, Tim on an online poker subscription service) and have tremendous depth of knowledge in the fields of both inbound and paid marketing.”

    “We have a lot of phenomenal talent at SEOmoz, but only a few of us are deep into the fields of SEO, social media, content marketing, email, CRO, etc.,” he adds. “Matt and Tim are here to help serve as mentors and as internal consultant experts to our entire team, a role that I’ve been far too busy to fill effectively over the last 18 months.”

    From the sound of it, SEOmoz users have as much to gain from the deal as SEOmoz does.

    “We believe that SEOmoz subscribers will benefit immensely from Matt and Tim’s expertise, which will improve how we build our products,” says Fishkin. “Tim is a Big Data junkie. He understands the enormous potential of both structured and unstructured data, as well as the challenges that come with harnessing and leveraging it across all segments of a business.”

    “We know that Big Data matters to our users, and Tim’s vision will take us to the next level,” he continues. “Matt has worked in some of the toughest search marketing gigs, including The New York Times and at various Fortune 500 companies. Arguably, there is no tougher search marketing gig than publishing, where you live or die by clicks, and the competition grows daily. With this background, Matt knows what it takes to drive successful search marketing. His brain and willpower are going to help evolve SEOmoz’s product roadmap to meet the needs of our ever-growing user base.”

    Exact terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the price was somewhere in the low seven-figure area.

  • Facebook Graph Search Is Going to Produce a Lot of Funny, Odd, and Creepy Queries

    New Tumblr alert! New Tumblr alert!

    Like that Tumblr blog that let people post odd responses from Siri when she first debuted on iOS, or those various Tumblr blogs that show odd Google autocomplete suggestions, this new Tumblr blog that centers around a new Facebook feature is sure to provide us with some giggles over the next few months.

    Maybe not always giggles – maybe some cringes thrown in there as well.

    It’s called “Actual Facebook Graph Searches,” and consists of…actual Facebook Graph Searches – real live searches that were able to be performed using Facebook’s brand new Graph Search feature.

    When Facebook officially announced the new search tool last week, we knew that it was going to raise privacy concerns. Graph Search allows users to find other users based on their likes and interests, as well as other signifying information like location, profession, political status, and more.

    Facebook recently removed users’ ability to opt out of being found in searches on the site, right in time to launch Graph Search. You can check out our big roundup on Graph Search, Facebook privacy, and what you can do about it here.

    The point is, as Facebook lets more people into the beta, more people will find interesting Graph Searches, creepy Graph Searches, and just plain weird Graph Searches.

    Actual Facebook Graph Searches already highlights a few of these. Looking for an easy date? How bout a search for “Single women who live nearby and who are interesting in men and like Getting Drunk (the page)!” Yeah! Awesome!

    What about “Islamic men interested in men who live in Tehran, Iran.” That’s kind of a weird one.

    “Spouses of married people who like Ashley Madison (that cheating dating site).” Well, that’s awkward.

    “Current employers of ‘people who like racism.’” Uh oh, Target.

    The point is, Facebook Graph Search is going to produce hundreds and hundreds of these odd searches. As someone who’s not overly alarmist when it comes to Facebook and privacy, I can just sit back and enjoy the freak show. This is going to be fun.

    [@tomscott via All Things D]

  • Bing Wants You To Let It Know What Pages “Best Represent You” (And Your Friends)

    Bing recently launched Bing Tags, promising to help you “get noticed,” and “show up better on Bing”. The feature lets Bing users tag themselves and their friends in pages around the web, and see what pages their Facebook friends have been tagged in.

    Now, Bing is making tags more visible by letting users select pages they want to tag and having the pages show up in search results.

    “Whether it’s your Twitter profile, blog, or that art portfolio you’re proud of – Bing Tags lets you highlight the pages that best represent you,” says Bing Social program manager Diana Hsu. “You can also help your friends by tagging relevant pages about them. Was your friend quoted in the local paper, or published in an online journal? Or maybe they have a fantastic photo blog to show off? Just tag your friends to show them some love, and once they’ve approved the tags, the pages will appear on Bing.”

    Bing Tags Feature

    “Remember – you have full control over what is shown to the public on Bing,” adds Hsu. “If a friend tags you to a page, we will not surface it outside your network until you confirm the link is the one you want showing up in search results”

    Tags are only visible to friends until they’re approved by the user and made public.