Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
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Daily Search Forum Recap: November 16, 2010
Posted: November 16th, 2010, 10:00pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Search Forum Recap
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Official: Google Phonebook Not Working (phonebook: operator)
Posted: November 16th, 2010, 2:44pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google Search Engine
There are many searchers complaining that the Google Phonebook is not working. A Google Web Search Help thread has some of those complaints.
It does appear to have changed the way it works. Just recently, Vanessa Fox wrote an article named Removing Your Personal Information From Google. In that article, she had a link to a Google Phonebook result for her own name, which showed several Vanessa Fox results, with addresses and phone numbers. Now, if I click on that search result, I don't see any results.
Now, there is nothing.
The thing is, if I knew the specific zip code that person lived in, I can still get phone book results. For example, [vanessa fox, 54661] returns this result:
But a simple search for Phonebook results as done in the past, seemed to have stopped showing phone numbers.
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.
Update: Google's JohnMu commented below that the phonebook operator was officially removed today. A Googler posted about this on his personal blog explaining.
Things change, and Google has dropped the phonebook: and rphonebook: operators for finding phone numbers (rphonebook: was for "residential phonebook" and focused on home phones). As you can imagine, this was an endless source of hassles for people (who were surprised to see themselves searchable on Google) and for Google (who had to constantly deal with all of the takedown requests and outraged letters from folks who thought they were unlisted).
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Google Hotpot: Friend Powered Local Recommendations
Posted: November 16th, 2010, 2:36pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Other Google Topics
Last night, Google announced Google Hotpot. Google Hotpot is a local recommendations engine powered by you and your friends.
Here is a picture:
The concept is simple, you and your friends rate stuff and when you search for local items on Google Places (Hotspot) you will be recommended places based on you and your friends likes and dislikes.
Vanessa Fox has one of the best write ups on this at Search Engine Land. I'll quote her conclusion:
On its own, Hotpot isn't necessarily that different than what's available elsewhere (such as on Urban Spoon, Yelp, and Facebook). But as part of a larger social and local combination (the pieces of which Google mostly has already), it could be very compelling. Particularly if Google partnered with someone like Foursquare, Google could vastly improve their personalization by not just what you search for, but by what you actually like. We'll have to watch and see if they can fulfill on this promise.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Are Google'sOne Box Results Unethical?
Posted: November 16th, 2010, 2:25pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google Search Engine
Benjamin Edelman latest study named Hard-Coding Bias in Google "Algorithmic" Search Results tries to prove how Google hard codes their own links into the first results.
I will be honest, I have a serious problem with this "evidence." Edelman is known to be a solo watchdog on Google, but at the same time, he is extremely thorough and smart.
First let me give you his summary but take 5 minutes to read his evidence yourself:
I present categories of searches for which available evidence indicates Google has "hard-coded" its own links to appear at the top of algorithmic search results, and I offer a methodology for detecting certain kinds of tampering by comparing Google results for similar searches. I compare Google's hard-coded results with Google's public statements and promises, including a dozen denials but at least one admission. I tabulate affected search terms and examine other mechanisms also granting favored placement to Google's ancillary services. I conclude by analyzing the impact of Google's tampering on users and competition, and by proposing principles to block Google's bias.
The thing is, do you consider the one box results to be algorithmic? Personally, I am not sure. They are not Google's organic results. They are content databases, structured data, Google owns or licenses, to give searchers quick answers. Bing does it, Ask.com does it, Yahoo does it - everyone does it. Those are placed on the top, only when Google or the other search engines think the searcher is looking for an immediate answer.
You can argue the content isn't great and there may be better organic, algorithmic results - that is fine. I just don't see those one box results as algorithmic and thus I don't consider them to be hard coded algorithmic results.
Of course, whenever Google does come out with a new one box. Be it for weather, stock info, medical info or airline data - those sites that rank well for those types of terms do feel slighted. Yes, Google is pushing down their algorithmic results to place their paid, structured content above it. Is that fair? I don't know. But is Google hand coding their algorithmic results? It is a matter of definition and I think not.
Take my poll:
Is Google Unethically Hard Coding Results?online survey
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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Google Product Search Update & Google Shopper Android App
Posted: November 16th, 2010, 2:13pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Google Search Engine
The holiday season is here, I have already began buying Chanukah gifts. Google introduced new features for the upcoming holiday shopping season.
They include:
(1) Local Inventory: If you search for a specific product, Google may show you if it is in stock at local stores on Google.com or Google Product Search. Merchants need to submit local inventory in their feeds for it to work, and if they do, it should show up. I tested it out and it seemed to work well.
(2) Popular Products & Aisles: These two new features are being added to Google Product Search. "Popular products" shows you what other users are viewing online, and "aisles" helps you refine your search based on product-specific subcategories. When a shopper searches for "camera lens," for example, we'll show her some popular lenses, as well as offer the option to filter her searches by relevant criteria like "maximum aperture."
(3) Google Shopper for Android: Google Shopper was updated to include search filters like "price" and "brand" to help shoppers easily find the right product. Here is a video of what it does:
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld& Google Merchant Center Help.
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Facebook Launches "Seamless Messaging," Says Not Email
Posted: November 16th, 2010, 2:02pm CET by rustybrick
Tags: Social Search
Everyone was expecting Facebook to announce a new email service to compete with Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and others. Facebook made a point to say they are not producing a Gmail killer, but if their new service kills email, well - that is okay. But they are 100% not launching a Gmail killer. ;-)
If you missed the news, you can read the announcement here. In short, Facebook wants to place all your methods of communication in a single thread. So if you text message your sister, then email, then Facebook her and so on - all that communication is stored in a single thread on Facebook.com.
Here is how Facebook put it:
Today I'm excited to announce the next evolution of Messages. You decide how you want to talk to your friends: via SMS, chat, email or Messages. They will receive your message through whatever medium or device is convenient for them, and you can both have a conversation in real time. You shouldn't have to remember who prefers IM over email or worry about which technology to use. Simply choose their name and type a message. We are also providing an @facebook.com email address to every person on Facebook who wants one. Now people can share with friends over email, whether they're on Facebook or not. To be clear, Messages is not email. There are no subject lines, no cc, no bcc, and you can send a message by hitting the Enter key. We modeled it more closely to chat and reduced the number of things you need to do to send a message. We wanted to make this more like a conversation.
It is neat, but I saw a lot of feedback on Twitter as Facebook was announcing it. As some of you know, I really am not a fan of Facebook as a user. Maybe because I set it up wrong, but I personally barely use it. I know most people spend much of their day on Facebook, so I know how valuable it is.
Here is one Tweet, from Vanessa Fox, I want to highlight:
.bbpBox4239294440931328 {background:url(http://s.twimg.com/a/1288742912/images/themes/theme1/bg.png) #ffffff;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}
Don't most people mostly use email for business purposes? Do we really need that communication to be more personal and immediate?less than a minute ago via BrizzlyVanessa Fox
vanessafoxBut you really cannot deny the power in this. Unified messaging is nothing new. But Facebook has the power to make it work beyond everyone's wildest dreams.
What do you think?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch Forums.