Jigantus.com

On Nov 20th, 2008 Google launched a new “wiki” type feature that allows users to mark up Google search results, meaning the results you get from a Google search can be personalized by the user by allowing them to delete, raise or lower listings. This feature apparently is for users own results and does not affect anyone else.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/searchwiki-make-search-your-own.html

Google is already an excellent search engine and playing with it risks turning off some users. At first glance, it would seem to add confusion to users, sometimes simple is better.

I would also question the use it would be to individuals. Why would one re-rank their own results for a search term they may not search for again?

I see people on message boards begging for this feature to be removed, so it has stirred up some controversy, but any new change usually does and especially amongst a user base as vast as Google’s.

What likely is happening, is that Google is using this NOT just for individiual users, but is being used as a data point on their organic listings. I watched the Techcrunch50 conference, and in it, a representative from Google stated that 90% of search has been done to date, the remaining 10% was to be done by humans.

This makes sense to me, computers can only give you so much, the remaining 10% needs to be fine tuned by people. I believe this is Google’s way of getting this done. Perhaps they will learn what they need to know, then turn it off? Either way, it can only make their already great results, better.

At the same conference, a VC who used to work at Altavista, when they were a top engine at the time, indicated that they had a chance to invest in Google when they were starting up. He mentioned that they thought they didn’t need to, that they had the market and that they could not be displaced. His point was, you always need to look over your shoulder and improve what you have, so somebody else doesn’t come along and take it away from you.

I think this is another example of how Google is keeping itself on top. From what I have seen. Google has done some brilliant things, and have many more pieces of the puzzle coming along. This is another.

I have to take this as a lesson for Jigantus. Never stop resting, always improve, keep new things coming and don’t be afraid to innovate and somehow find a way to be better then Google

Google , who owns YouTube, just announced that they are allowing people, companies basically anyone to create Sponsored Video Listings based on their standard CPC format.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/promote-your-video-with-youtube.html

In an effort to monetize the site, they have decided to implement this feature, after all, it is what they know. I think it is a smart move and will become a great source of revenue for them.

One of the tricks will be to properly screen the videos, with text advertising on their Google site, this can be done, including an evaluation of the landing page the ads link too. But how do you screen a video? Can inappropriate videos be created and posted?

What about search relevancy? When an advertiser bids for terms, how do they insure that the key word matches what is actually in the video?

Google must have thought this through and have a plan, but I still would be interested to see how this actually works out. If they can’t serve relevant content, then they are going to upset some searchers, especially ones that get tricked into clicking on something they really didn’t want to see.

It will take awhile to smooth out the kinks, but Google never stops innovating, they have deep pockets and can hire the most talented people. I like the way Google is starting to tie their offerings together and anything they do, they do well. Will anyone stop Google?

Jigantus.com hope’s to.

I recently read a book from Randy Pausch who was famous for writing “The Last Lecture”. If you haven’t heard about him, he was a Professor at Carnagie Mellon who died of cancer. Before he did, he gave a last lecture about “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”. (Video link below).

It talks about life and his take on how you approach it. It has some good points, I would actually recommend watching the video as it has most of what the book has. It is over 1 hour long but is entertaining, insightful and worth it.

I have taken a few pointers from it, and one that I found interesting was to “Play Without The Ball”. Randy was a football player whose coach told him to “play without the ball”, meaning, there is only one ball, not everyone can have it, learn to play your game and things will happen. I have used this myself to great success, you just have to have patience and discipline. Sometimes you won’t even see the results, you just know it’s there.

Recently, Google killed the deal to present their ads on Yahoo’s network. They were trying to get approvals first to eliminate Yahoo’s Search Marketing and take all PPC ads. There were competition issues, so they adjusted it to a limited percentage of their ad service and were in the process of trying to get through regulators.

In a email from Yahoo regarding the failed deal from Hilary Schneider Executive Vice President, Yahoo! U.S. :

“As you know, Yahoo! has long focused on how to improve the user, advertiser and publisher experience. We will continue to enable you to easily connect with the consumers you most want to reach, by creating a more open, efficient and effective marketplace for advertisers and publishers. We also plan to continue to provide the cutting-edge advances in products, platforms and services that the industry needs and expects, by leading the way in helping advertisers navigate the converging contextual and search ad markets. Finally, we remain committed to innovation in anticipating the needs of Yahoo!’s audiences–one of the largest and most engaged populations of consumers on the web–by creating the unique context that delivers results for brand advertisers online.

In short, even in the absence of a commercial agreement with Google, we intend to become an ever-stronger player in online advertising. Our certainty on this front comes from the progress we continue to make in many areas, not the least of which are the significant innovations we’re making in search.”

To me they talk about being strong innovators and advertisers, but if they were so confident, why would they want a deal with Google? I don’t want to see Google get their space, as it would drive up ad costs and reduce competition.

But what I see Google doing, is that they are playing without the ball. Yahoo has had trouble with staff departures and reported dissention in the ranks. Once you lose good people, you are in trouble.

Their failed deal with Microsoft, plummeting stock price, erosion in ad inventory vs. Google’s innovation in almost everything, I think Google is going to let Yahoo go down even further. Just let the market take care of them. Why give them a boost with ad revenue when Google will get it anyways? They don’t need the ball.

Google recently announced (Sept. 16, 2008) that they would have a new judging system for AdWords. AdWords of course, is their PPC (Pay Per Click) system that generates them billions in annual revenue.

Google changed the way they calculate the Quality Score and that they will analyze the landing page less frequently then before. They are also opening up ALL keywords for bidding, whereas in the past they restricted it to more “active” keywords.

The most significant change was that they are now replacing what used to be “minimum bid” prices, with “first page bid estimates” which will likely result in higher prices as lack of clarity on bid position and will “force” uneducated bidders to run the bids up.

It will take some time to see the impact as advertisers absorb the changes. However, this is an example of how Google is squeezing everything it can out of PPC. PPC is a great tool to generate traffic to your web site, but only a few businesses can make it. These changes will make it even harder.