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8 items tagged "News and Press"

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Search Engine Roundtable

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  France Convicts Google Over Search Suggestions

  Posted: September 28th, 2010, 3:35pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  Google was convicted, as was the CEO, in France for defamation of the search suggestions. In short, a guy named MX sued Google for the search suggestions showing his name when you searched for rapist or satanist amongst other searches. MX was convicted of corruption of a minor, which he is now appealing.

  So he sued Google over the search suggestions showing his name for the conviction type of keyword. Google of course said the search suggestions are automated and only show from a "database of search labels most frequently used by the Internet." So it is what people are searching for and writing on - and thus they should not be blamed.

  The High Court of Paris felt otherwise and convicted Google and the CEO. Google said they are appealing. If you try to do those searches on Google France today, nothing will come up for this guys name.

  Personally, I am shocked Google would be responsible, especially in a case of a convicted individual. All this may lead to for the convict is the suggestion being pulled from Google France but possibly showing up in other countries. Which may be fine for him.

  Not everyone agrees with me. A WebmasterWorld thread has some people saying:

  I 100% agree with this ruling.

  And again it's the French who have the guts to show Google some limits.

  Vive la France!

  I 100% agree with this ruling.

  I've seen some pretty horrific suggestions since all this started, especially when it comes to name and company searches. When they first released that function, I did some tests, you can influence the suggestions greatly with the right content and links.

  Do you agree?

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Google Blogoscoped Forums.

  
  

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  Texas Attorney General Investigating Google Over Anti-Competitive Search Results

  Posted: September 8th, 2010, 3:11pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  Texas opens inquiry into Google search rankings via the Associated Press reports Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has opened an investigation to see if Google is manipulating the search results.

  Specifically, if Google is controlling the search results to keep competition out.

  The review appears to be focused on whether Google is manipulating its search results to stifle competition.

  Several lawsuits filed in the U.S. also have alleged Google's search formula is biased. Google believes Abbott is the first state attorney general to open an antitrust review into the issue.

  "We look forward to answering (Abbott's) questions because we're confident that Google operates in the best interests of our users," Don Harrison, Google's deputy general counsel, wrote in a Friday blog post.

  These accusations are nothing new and I personally think they will drop the investigation in short order.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

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  European Union May Go After Google, Some Webmasters Rejoice

  Posted: July 8th, 2010, 3:15pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  A month ago we reported that France May Fine Google Over Suspending AdWords Advertiser and most recently, Google acquired ITA an online travel booking engine.

  As I explained in both posts, Webmasters fear that Google continues to get into their business. With the French case, it was a pricing search engine and the company claims Google demoted their site because it competes with Google Product Search. With ITA, travel search engines are fearing Google will do the same.

  Of course, Google says they do not manually demote sites and would not demote a site if it competed with a service they offered.

  Via the AP:

  The European Union's antitrust chief said Wednesday he is looking "very carefully" at allegations that Google Inc. unfairly demotes rivals' sites in search results.

  Google says its search results are entirely controlled by algorithms that demote sites with little useful content for users.

  It is a bit funny. So many webmasters rely on Google for their online businesses to succeed. At the same time, they are in constant fear of Google getting into their business and taking away the sales they initially gave them. Just a very weird and sensitive area - a line Google has been balancing and arguably crossing over the years.

  So the EU will be taking a "very close look" at Google's recent practices and hopefully protecting the webmasters and business owners, if applicable.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

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  Google To Take Over Airline Booking Industry, Buys ITA

  Posted: July 2nd, 2010, 3:09pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  Google announced they have purchased ITA for $700 million. ITA is a flight information software company and will enable Google to "work on creating new flight search tools that will make it easier for you to search for flights, compare flight options and prices and get you quickly to a site where you can buy your ticket."

  The truth is, this may be the beginning of the end of other travel web sites. And Google knows it. Which is why they are already creating web sites specifically designed to convince the public that this is a good thing and the FTC shouldn't block it.

  Greg Sterling feels that Google will be under a lot of pressure about this deal and it might ultimately not be approved. I guess time will tell, but flight sites need to prepare.

  Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums and WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Google's YouTube Beats Viacom In Court

  Posted: June 24th, 2010, 1:46pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  Google is proud to say that they won against Viacom after taking them to court over $1 billion for copyright infringement.

  Google said:

  Today, the court granted our motion for summary judgment in Viacom’s lawsuit with YouTube. This means that the court has decided that YouTube is protected by the safe harbor of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) against claims of copyright infringement. The decision follows established judicial consensus that online services like YouTube are protected when they work cooperatively with copyright holders to help them manage their rights online.

  This is an important victory not just for us, but also for the billions of people around the world who use the web to communicate and share experiences with each other. We’re excited about this decision and look forward to renewing our focus on supporting the incredible variety of ideas and expression that billions of people post and watch on YouTube every day around the world.

  Viacom said:

  We are disappointed with the judge's ruling, but confident we will win on appeal.

  Copyright protection is essential to the survival of creative industries. It is and should be illegal for companies to build their businesses with creative material they have stolen from others. Without this protection, investment in the development of art and entertainment would be discouraged, and the many artists and producers who devote their lives to creating it would be hurt. Copyright protection is also critical to the web– because consumers love professional content and because legitimate websites shouldn't have to compete with pirates.

  You can read more opinion and news coverage at Techmeme.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

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  Google Buys Aardvark, You Surprised?

  Posted: February 12th, 2010, 2:23pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  Yesterday, TechCrunch broke the news that Aardvark, a human powered answer engine, was purchased by Google. Google confirmed the deal, but did not confirm the $50 million price tag associated with the deal.

  Aardvark basically allows you to send the network a question. It will then look at your network of people, figure out who is best to answer the question you asked and send them the question via IM, email or Twitter. If (big if) someone replies with an answer, it will then return you the answer via IM, email or Twitter. I used it a lot in the past, because it is a neat idea - but it didn't really stick with me for one reason or another.

  In any event, Google bought them. Why? Maybe for the talent, the people? Maybe for the technology? I am not sure. To be honest, I was a bit surprised by this acquisition - but clearly I don't see the big picture here.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld & DigitalPoint Forums.

  
  

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  Google News Adds Over 20,000 News Sources

  Posted: February 27th, 2009, 2:43pm CET by rustybrick

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  If you look at Google News a year ago, you will notice they said they had "4,500 news" sources. Now, if you visit Google News today, you will see they have 25,000 news sources.

  I do not know when Google changed that number, but I believe it was some time in the recent past.

  I know publishers are constantly being added as sources to Google News but to explode from 4,500 sources to 25,000 sources in a year? Wow, that is pretty impressive. Does quality suffer? I am not sure.

  Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

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  Google VP of Search Quality Udi Manber Interviewed

  Posted: April 22nd, 2008, 2:28pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

  Tags:  Google News Press  

  Udi Manber, VP of search quality for Google, sat down with Popular Mechanics for a rare interview and issued some insights into the state of Google search today.

  The article deserves a read in itself, but some WebmasterWorld members particularly liked some of the statements about Manber's emphasis on keyword density and how Google rolls out tests (at least with regards to algorithm analysis):

  I wish people would put more effort into thinking about how other people will find them and putting the right keywords onto their pages.

  I’ll give you an example of something that came last week. We were evaluating a certain algorithm that adds diversity to the result. We did live experiments, which means we launched the algorithm to a very small percentage of users and then see how that compares to the result without the algorithm.

  The results we show you are based not only on what we know of the Web, but also what other people have searched for.

  Furthermore, forum members were happy to see that the algorithm changes have no relationship to Google AdWords.

  All in all, very informative and useful, and forum members welcome the insights.

  Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.