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Jul 31, 2008 - Spotting things you'll want to see today.


Not cool (yet?)
Cuil Homepage

With founders from Google, IBM and Altavista and $33 million in funding, this week's launch of search engine Cuil.com was expected to create a big splash. By all accounts it was a belly flop of historic proportions. Search Engine Land provided an in depth look at the workings of the latest Google challenger and explained why bigger searches may not be better when you only want to find a few relevant pages. There was a smattering of positive buzz and a warning from Louis Gray about the dangers of 'instant analysis' but the overwhelming reaction was negative. Valleywag included poor PR planning in Cuil's 3 big mistakes. One additional mistake was a lack of necessary user support according to Phil Bradley.

The launch provided an interesting forum on the search function. Cuil's algorithm is supposed to downplay link analysis in favor of content evaluation. SEO Theory found that to be partially true but was optimistic about the long term viability of Cuil's approach. The near term was addressed by Search Engine Land who explained why nobody was about to replace Google and why Cuil, in particular, was not about to figure in search marketing plans for awhile.

see related posts      

Amazon offers payments by cloud
Amazon Checkout

Amazon has announced two significant payment and checkout services that expand its efforts towards supplying ecommerce software as a service. Read Write Web analyzed the new services and sensed a competitor for Google Checkout while others (such as Paidcontent.org and Techdirt) felt that it could go all the way over to Paypal's territory if it could demonstrate clear benefits.

Ebay Strategies took a long look at the pros and cons and was impressed with the potential for small and mid level merchants to access Amazon's online wallet system familiar to 81 million users. Larger scale merchants may have to grapple with the concept of outsourcing revenue collection to a competitor.

see related posts      


Microsoft searches for a BrowseRank solution

Google rose to the top of the search world by placing value on the individual links into a site. Now an internal research paper indicates that Microsoft's plan to reach the peak may be through something called BrowseRank. Cnet's Digital Media offered a summarized version of the paper and described BrowseRank's efforts to determine value by analyzing user activity (time spent and clicks) once they arrive at a site. Page Traffic Blog contrasted Google's PageRank with BrowseRank and found some flaws in the theory that time spent on a site equated with value. WebProNews felt that BrowseRank might prove intrusive on users who value their privacy. AdCentered was another blog who felt that any benefits of Microsoft's system would be lost in privacy issues while Search Engine Journal made the argument that BrowseRank would not place pressure on SEOs to change their on-page strategies.

     

Tools: New and/or improved

  • How to use Facebook as an effective business tactic (Buzznetworker)
  • 5 Ways to Improve Your Site's Architecture for SEO (Blueliner)
  • 10 Tips to Improve Your Local Search Rankings in Google (Net Business Blog)
  • Tools To Detect Slow Load Times (Practical eCommerce)
  • Beyond the Dashboard: 5 Tips for Data Diving in Google Analytics (Future Now)
  • How To Use Search Marketing To Lift Your Brand (Social Media Today)
  • 25 Examples Of Clean, Effective And Beautiful Web Design (Future Buzz)
  • Successful List Rental Tips (eMail Marketing Journal)


Radar Screen: Will Omnisio upgrade YouTube?

Google's plans to drive revenue from YouTube have been unclear. Their recent addition of video annotations along with this week's acquisition of Omnisio suggest that their plan includes online editing and personalization of videos to create greater interactivity, views, and a more fertile environment for advertisers.

  • Google Acquires Omnisio, Joining YouTube (Google Inside)
  • Two words for Omnisio: Nice exit (Matthew Ingram)
  • Google Acquires Omnisio (Read Write Web)
  • YouTube Does a Rare Acquisition: Buys Video Tools Firm Omnisio (PaidContent.Org)
  • Google & YouTube Acquire Video Mashup Company : Omnisio (Search Engine Journal)
  • YouTube Expands Video Editing Toolset With Omnisio Pickup (Silicon Alley Insider)
  • Google acquires Omnisio for video annotations (Webware)


 

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