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Search Engine Wars: let battle commence30th November, 2010

Presenter: Karen Blakeman

Karen.Blakeman@rba.co.uk twitter.com/karenblakemanhttp://www.rba.co.uk/

Presentation available on: http://www.slideshare.net/karenblakeman/

and

http://www.authorstream.com/User-Presentations/karenblakeman/

What’s at stake?

2010 Financial Tables - Google Investor Relationshttp://investor.google.com/financial/tables.html (figures in millions)

Nearly USD 21 billion so far for 2010

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This is serious money!

General search engines

There are only three (two?) serious contenders

In alphabetical order

Bing

Google

Yahoo

Ask has given up

Ask.com gives up on search as Google takes over – adieu Jeeves | Technology | guardian.co.uk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/nov/09/ask-com-search-engine-gives-up

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How did they stack up earlier this year?

• Top U.S. Search Sites for April 2010

– http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/top-u-s-search-sites-for-april-2010/

• Bing takes second place in the UK search market | Search Engine Marketing News

– http://www.vertical-leap.co.uk/news/bing-takes-second-place-in-the-uk-search-market/

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It is not just about search....

How do Bing, Google, Yahoo make money?

Get people onto their sites and keep them there!

There are other contenders...

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Social networks overtake Google in UK web hits

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/social-networks-overtake-google-in-uk-web-hits-1994923.html

How they do it...

Give the customers what they want

“Good enough” search results – localisation, personalisation, semantic search

Advertising that matches interests more accurately

Social media, messaging, social/professional networks

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You have Google ad preferences

Oh no I don’t!

Oh yes you do...

... and “preferences” with every other search engine and web site that uses

behavioural targeted advertising or has Google ads

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Ad preferences – based on searches and pages viewed

??

http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/

Targeted advertising in action

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Targeted advertising in action

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Facebook ads

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See what ad networks you are feeding

• Network Advertising Initiative http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp

• Browser specific, machine specific

• Opt out cookies life span of 5 years or until you delete them

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The Bing-Yahoo deal

Yahoo to use Bing’s search engine (is it happening?)

Bing to use Yahoo’s advertising sales team

Yahoo will “still be innovating on top of the Bing results”

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Bing Yahoo search results the same for US versions

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Bing Yahoo UK

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Bing Yahoo France

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Bing/Yahoo

• Non US versions– Yahoo still using its own databases and local ranking algorithms– Yahoo UK often more up to date than Bing

• US Yahoo– lost unique region: command– lost Breaking News box

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Localisation

• Country versions for all three – automatically directed to what the search engine thinks is

your local version (depends on your set up)

• Google now has an option allowing you to specify your location within the country e.g. Reading– can be lazy with my searches e.g. for local restaurants but a

problem for carrying out broader research

• Bing seems reluctant to change UK location from London – any changes often revert to London on next login

– UK version does not “localise” results

• Google by far the best (though not perfect) at rolling out new features to non-US Googles

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The problem with Bing

• Bing launched May 2009

– see UK launch advert at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F409mFP1CkU

• Most useful and interesting features and developments in US version only– can easily go to the Bing US but lose localised content

• London Bing roundtable meeting June 2009

See Phil Bradley’s blog The Microsoft Bing Meeting http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/2009/06/the-microsoft-bing-meeting.html

• We are still waiting!

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Social media

• All adding social media, social and professional network profiles to search results

• Varies on your type of search – hot news topic, industry query, company, person

– localised, personal searches: flights, hotels, restaurants

• Separate search options, for example– http://www.bing.com/social

– http://www.google.com/realtime

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Google – “My social circle”

• Included in your search results if you are signed in to your Google account – sometimes

• Kept separate from your other results at present

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My social circle and content

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List of direct and secondary connections

Google search results• Additional search features

in left hand side menu

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Google playing catch-up with Bing

• Personalise home page with your own image (Bing – you are stuck with their choice)

• Scrolling page results for images (I personally still prefer Bing’s)

• Preview web sites in results list

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Also from Google this year...

• Google Buzz– link your existing social media circles (Twitter, Picasa, Flickr,

Google Reader) with Google

– “Share updates, photos, videos, and more. Start conversations about the things you find interesting.”

• Google caffeine – faster updating, faster search results

• Google Instant– results appear as you type your search

– (Yahoo’s AlltheWeb Livesearch did it in 2005 but it disappeared in 2007)

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Why do Yahoo and Microsoft always give up half way?

• Yahoo AlltheWeb Livesearch– far better than Google’s Instant

• Yahoo Mindset – change emphasis of results for more shopping or more research

oriented results

• Microsoft’s Academic Live– competitor to Google Scholar and an excellent alternative, used

publishers’ meta-data

• Microsoft’s Live Books– excellent competitor to Google Books

• Microsoft drops link command

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Yahoo Clues – http://clues.yahoo.com/

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What’s the verdict?

• Results pages are including a greater range of media– messy, selective, superficial overview?

• Social media results not always comprehensive

• Need to target searches more precisely using advanced tools and options

• Use the one that gives you the most relevant results

• Specialist subject tools still essential for the serious researcher

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Or do your own...

• http://blekko.com

• “Slashtags” – define your own set of web sites for searches

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And the winners are..

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http://www.unifiedstream.com/facebook-reaches-600-million-users-bloomberg-profiles-mark-zuckerberg/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/facebook-25-pct-of-u-s-traffic-and-100-million-app-downloads/?news=123

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=135476