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12 Step Program For Improving The Load Speed Of Online Stores
In my last column, we talked about why website load speed matters and how important it was for online retailers. Guess I touched a nerve. I got more emails and phone calls about that one than any other column I’ve written! Load speed issues affect all websites, but we’re retailers, so today, I’ll cover some […]
Yes, Google Is Testing Infinite Scroll Web Results
Google has confirmed that they are indeed testing a form of infinite scroll web search results. I covered the news this morning at the Search Engine Roundtable sharing a screen shot from WebmasterWorld and a video from Waebo of this in action. Here is the video: As you can see, Google replaced the pagination feature […]
Google’s Pierre de Fermat Math Logo
Google is celebrating the life of Pierre de Fermat, born 410 years ago today in 1601 Beaumont-de-Lomagne, France. He lived for 63 years, dying on January 12, 1665 in France. He was a lawyer but most well-known for his breakthroughs in math. Pierre is most well known for the Fermat’s Last Theorem, which states that […]
Updated: Google Reinvents Its Catalog Search As iPad App
Google has partnered with a variety of catalog merchants to launch its next-generation catalog search as an iPad application (with an Android version “coming soon”). The app launches with products from Anthropologie, L.L. Bean, Land’s End, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Pottery Barn, Sephora, Tea Collection, Urban Outfitters and Williams-Sonoma, among others. This isn’t Google’s first crack […]
Bing Shopping Adds Faster Refinements, Sales & List Sharing
Bing announced new features for their Shopping Search features. The features inluce: Refine Your Searches Faster Find Sale Prices Share Your Shopping Lists on Facebook Bing Shopping has added a form of Google Instant results for shopping refinements. Here is an example: You can also just filter by sales, see the screen shot below showing […]
The Real Reason Google Wonder Wheel Died: It Was A Pain To Maintain
Several weeks ago we reported that Google had taken the Wonder Wheel service offline. Its removal was a surprise to all its users including the many K-12 educators. A Google spokesperson old us that Wonder Wheel was removed due to the “initial stage” of the Google website redesign but did not share any info when we asked if and/or when […]
Yahoo Gives Image Search A New Look
Yahoo’s Image Search is sporting a fresh look today that presents the image results in a cleaner, more organized fashion. Do a search and the results page shows all matches in a grid, with each image sized almost uniformly no matter their true dimensions or orientation (horizontal vs. vertical). Each image expands when you hover […]
Quora Launches Browse Feature To Help Users Find Related Content
Over the past few months, Quora has been rolling out a variety of new features to help improve the experience on the social question and answer site. The newest element is a browse page that joins Shuffle (launched in June) and Topic Pages (launched in July). The goal of the new browse page is to deliver fresh, […]
Google “I Love Lucy” Logo For Lucille Ball’s 100th Birthday
If she were alive, it would be the 100th birthday of comedian Lucille Ball. For that anniversary, Google’s done a special logo, in the shape of a television and which plays several clips from classic “I Love Lucy” episodes. By default, Google’s own name appears in the familiar “I Love Lucy” opening heart and script. […]
Has Paid Search Become The New NYC Mailbox?
If you have ever lived in New York City, you know possibly the worst thing about the city is finding an apartment. It is miserable plain and simple. You sort through thousands of Craigslist postings, a few New York Times postings, and answer every ad posted on every mailbox in the city only to realize […]
Confirmed: Google Search Testing New “Clean” Design: For Tablets Only
Google is testing yet another design, this one is the same gray and black bar look but places the search filters and navigation at the top of the page, instead of on the left. Amit Agarwal posted screen shots of the new design, here are two of the many screen shots he has posted: Agarwal […]
Twitter Search Gets “New Twitter” Look & Feel
For ages, Twitter has operated a standalone Twitter Search site in addition to allowing people to search from within Twitter.com itself. Today, that standalone site has gained a new location and been upgraded to match the Twitter.com search experience. Previously, Twitter Search was located at https://search.twitter.com. Now, that address leads to https://twitter.com/search, as tweeted by […]
The Alexander Calder Google Mobile Logo
Google is featuring a special logo for Alexander Calder, an American artist known for inventing mobile sculptures, 113th birthday. Alexander Calder was born on July 22, 1898 in Lawnton, Pennsylvania and died on November 11, 1976 at the age of 78 in Manhattan. The logo is Google’s first doodle made entirely using HTML5 canvas. Google […]
Bing Getting Ready To Launch HTML5 Interface? Live Tiles, Instant Results & More
Rafael Rivera spotted a new Bing interface where Bing was overlaying “live titles” on top of the home page’s awesome backgrounds. This is the new Bing HTML5 interface, that Bing has been for several months. Winrumors reports that along with these “live titles,” Bing will be introducing a form of Google Instant search. The Instant […]
Load Speed Matters: Where To Start Trimming The Fat
How fast a webpage downloads and displays in a user’s browser has always been important for online stores, primarily because faster loading pages convert better than slow pages. One of the easiest ways to increase sales is to radically slim down category and product pages to make shopping faster and easier. But in recent times, […]
Google Pea Logo For Gregor Mendel
Today on Google you will find a special logo for the 189th birthday of Gregor Mendel. Gregor Mendel discovered the science of genetics while studying the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants. Because of this discovery, Google wanted people to remember who he is, what he did for science and medicine today and simply […]
Google’s Got Logos, But Bing’s Home Page Images Attract Too
Fast Company has a fascinating article on Bing’s background images and how they are used to market the Bing service. While Google updates their logos to be fun and creative on special birthdays or occasions, Bing revamps their background with an image that stands out and leaves users asking for more. If you haven’t noticed, […]
Google Testing Fixed Top Search Bar
Amit Banerjee has spotted a new Google test with the new top bar that places the top bar in a fixed position at the top of the screen and stays there even as you scroll down. Amit captured a screen demo of this in action: As you can see, the top bar stays with you […]
Forecast: Expanded Weather Coverage On Bing
Bing has expanded its weather-related coverage with more information and resources, and also updated the display of that information at the same time. The new features are available only in English-language markets. Bing’s blog post explains the new set of weather search features, which are available under the “Weather” tab after your initial search. In […]
Yandex Launches English-Language Version Its Webmaster Tools
Russian search engine Yandex has launched an English-language version of Yandex.Webmaster, its suite of webmaster tools. The service can be reached at webmaster.yandex.com. If you’ve used the Google and/or Bing webmaster portals, Yandex’s will be familiar to you. On sign-up, users have five options to confirm site ownership: HTML file, meta tag, text file, WHOIS […]
The St. Basil’s Cathedral Google Logo
Today is the 450th Anniversary of the St. Basil’s Cathedral, which had its groundbreaking in 1555 and was officially completed on July 12, 1561. It is a Russian Orthodox church erected on the Red Square in Moscow. The building looks like no other building in Russia and has 9 domes and 2 spires. Their official […]
Google’s Fourth Of July Logo
Happy Independence Day everyone! Today Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com have special logos and themes for the special day. Above is an image from Google for how they are commemorating the special day. Some are actually upset that there is no American Flag in the logo, but I think the logo represents America well with […]
Google Realtime Search Goes Missing
Update: A couple hours after this post was published, Google spokesperson Gabriel Stricker shared this statement with us: We’ve temporarily disabled google.com/realtime. We’re exploring how to incorporate our recently launched Google+ project into this functionality going forward, so stay tuned. Also see our updated article with more details, As Deal With Twitter Expires, Google Realtime […]
Official: The Google Wonder Wheel Is Gone
A Google spokesperson has informed Search Engine Land that the Google Wonder Wheel feature has been taken offline. The spokesperson said that the search tool was removed due to the “initial stage” of the Google site redesign announced earlier this week. The Google Wonder Wheel along with a number of other search refinements were formally […]
Google Begins Multi-Month User Experience Update
Today, Google has launched the first of many design changes that will impact all of their products, including search. Their blog post says the updates will roll over over the next few months, but that they have a philosophy of “constant revision and improvement”, and notes three primary principles driving the change: Focus They say they’re […]
Oyster.com Adds Hotel Search By Image Feature
Today, Oyster.com, a hotel review site and booking engine rolled out “Oyster Shots”, a new search by hotel photos feature, following a similar trend of expanded image search capabilities by Google. All images are editorially tagged and categorized, and include underlying geocoded data signals, such as GPS camera data. In the challenging travel vertical, Oyster […]
Google Goes Black With Black Navigation Bar Test
Google is now heavily testing a new top bar color, that color is black. Google began testing this back about a month ago, as reported by Google Operating System but now Google seemed to have stepped up those tests. So much so, users are complaining that their custom Google home page designs look bad because […]
So Your Sales Just Dropped By 60%, Now What?
I’ve been an evangelist for the Yahoo Store platform since 1997, and I’ve gotten a reputation for being a troubleshooter when a store is on fire. I love the idea of being the online Red Adair parachuting in to cap that oil well fire and save the day! This time of year, I get one […]
Blekko Slashes More Spam With “Zorro” Update
Blekko has found its mantra: the war on spam. The search startup, now six months old, is trying to challenge Bing and Google with a strategy that puts human curation and editorial judgment at the center of search and banishes spam altogether. CEO Rich Skrenta has been relentless in asserting that Google is filled with […]
Google’s 2011 Winter & Summer Solstice Logos
Today is the first day of Summer season for those in the United States and many other countries, for others it is the first day of Winter. This is also known as the Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice. For the special day, Google has logos for both, depending on which Google portal you go to, […]
Google Adds Gay Rainbow Around Search Box
Like in the previous years, Google has added a rainbow to the search results to show their support for the Gay and Lesbian community. June is Gay and Lesbian Pride month and like Google has done before in 2010, 2009 and 2008, Google has added the rainbow colors when you search for gay related keywords. […]
Google’s Father’s Day Logo & More 2011 Logos
Today is Father’s Day in the U.S. and many other countries. To celebrate the day, Google has a special tie logo. Bing, Yahoo and other search engines have special logos and themes as well. Here they are: Google: Yahoo (animated): Yahoo (not-animated): Bing: Ask.com: DogPile: Baidu: Sogou: Search Engine Roundtable: Related Stories: Google’s 2011 Mother’s […]
Google Testing New Design Without I’m Feeling Lucky Button
A reader emailed us a screen shot of the Google home page missing the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button as well as a new look for the inside search result pages. Here are those screen shots. Notice the home page missing the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button: The next screen shot shows a completely new look for […]
Google Expands Use & Display Of Related Searches
Google has announced an interesting expansion of its related search capabilities. The updates to Google’s search results will show up in a number of different ways: Search References/Lists When the search query suggests results that may involve a list, Google will show what it calls the “top references” for the query. This may show up […]
Lunar Eclipse Video, Results & Logo From Google
Google is streaming today’s Lunar Eclipse on YouTube plus if you go to Google.com, you will see a special Google logo for the Lunar Eclipse. The logo leads to a search result answer telling you information on the timing of the Lunar Eclipse. Here is the search result you get after clicking on the logo: […]
Google Tests Using Site Name Rather Than URL In Search Results
Google Operating System reports Google is testing a new search snippet, one that is displaying the site name as opposed to the destination URL under the search result’s description. Here is a screen shot from the blog: I personally cannot replicate the same behavior, what I see is the full destination URL in the search […]
Searching The Sarah Palin Emails
More than 24,199 pages of emails from the first 21 months of Sarah Palin’s term as Governor of Alaska were released today after an unsuccessful fight by the state to prevent their disclosure. About 30 news organizations paid to receive the 5 boxes of printed documents, and most are planning to scan the messages and […]
Google: Product Extension Ads Now Available For Mobile
This morning Google announced two new ad formats for mobile — or rather the extension of two PC ad types to smartphones — Product Extension Ads and Product Local Ads. Basically these two mobile formats allow marketers to include product images and related data in ads showing on mobile devices (like PC-based AdWords). Further, if […]
Google’s Les Paul Logo: Coolest Doodle Ever?
Google has created some pretty cool logos, but the Les Paul logo that’s on the Google home page today tops them all … at least to this music fan’s ears (and eyes). In honor of what would be Les Paul’s 96th birthday, the logo is an interactive guitar that you can “play” with your mouse […]
So Long and Farewell: Google’s Oldest Vertical Search Engine, Uncle Sam & Others Gone
Yesterday, Search Engine Roundtable and InfoDocket both pointed out that Google’s U.S. government specialty search tools, Google-Uncle Sam and USGov.Google.com had been offline for several days. Additionally, Google’s long time specialty search tools Linux Search, Microsoft Search, Apple Search, and BSD Search were also unavailable. Google has now confirmed both to us via email and […]