Yahoo! SearchMonkey Now Open For Everyone

Today, Yahoo! is making its SearchMonkey developer platform publicly available and is kicking things off with a launch party and a developer challenge. As we noted a few weeks ago when SearchMonkey launched in private beta, Yahoo! is encouraging the use of microformats and semantic web standards by providing an infrastructure that developers can use to build applications (using the structured data from web sites). Specifically, developers can create two types of "enhanced listings" for web sites. Generally, searchers will have to opt-in to the enhanced listings for a particular site to see them in the search results.

If you're going to be in the Sunnyvale area tonight, RSVP for the launch party, which includes demos and"substantial amounts of food and beer". If you want to take part in the developer challenge, submit your SearchMonkey application by June 14th. Prizes will be awarded for Best Enhanced Result, Best Infobar, Most Innovative Use of Structured Data, Best Data Service, and Grand Prize (best over all categories).

http://searchengineland.com/080424-113600.php
http://developer.yahoo.com/searchmonkey/


Yahoo lässt den SearchMonkey los
Geschlossene Beta der offenen Suche gestartet

Im Februar 2008 kündigte Yahoo an, seine Suche zu öffnen und Websites die Möglichkeit zu geben, Einfluss auf die Suchergebnisse zu nehmen. Nun startet ein Beta-Test, an dem Entwickler und Webmaster teilnehmen können, um die Darstellung ihrer Seiten in den Suchergebnissen von Yahoo zu modifizieren.

SearchMonkey
Yahoo nennt seine neue Entwicklerplattform "SearchMonkey". Sie erlaubt es, über Webstandards und strukturierte Daten die Suchergebnisse mit zusätzlichen Informationen zu bestücken. Damit will Yahoo zugleich das semantische Web voranbringen, indem mit der eigenen Suche künftig eine in großem Umfang genutzte Applikation zur Verfügung steht, die semantische Merkmale nutzt. So hofft Yahoo, die Verbreitung von RDF und Mikroformaten durch deren Nutzung zu fördern.

Als Beispiel führt Yahoo die Profilseiten des Social-Network LinkedIn an, die Yahoo dank der Nutzung von Mikroformaten in seinen Suchergebnissen in einer kompakten Zusammenfassung anzeigen kann. Zudem kann Yahoo dadurch die Suchergebnisse verbessern, schließlich erlaubt dies der Suchmaschine, den Wohnort oder den aktuellen Arbeitgeber als solche zu erkennen. Auch Bilder und Links lassen sich so gezielt in die Suchergebnisse einbinden.

Ab sofort steht SearchMonkey in einer begrenzten Beta-Version zur Verfügung, für die sich Entwickler anmelden können.

Google Releases Google AdWords Editor 5.1 and Schedules Maintenance for May 17

Google has announced the release of AdWords Editor 5.1. This new version contains only minor adjustments, but would be quite beneficial for users.

AdWords Editor 5.1 update includes, the previous four tabs for advertisements (text, image, local business, and mobile) now been grouped under a single 'Ads' tab. This update has been incorporated due to a constant 'space issue' in the interface. However, this issue only bothered a handful of users. Well, it seems Google does recognize the importance of each and every user after all.

There are some posts on Webmaster World on the release of AdWords Editor 5.1. One of the most interesting post that caught my eye, stated:

“If you do upgrade, and you have comments on any of your campaigns, ad groups, keywords, ads, or anything, make sure you export them out first before you do your upgrade! I learned the hard way that upgrades wipe out comments.”

On the other hand, according to Search Engine Roundtable, Google AdWords has scheduled a system-wide maintenance on Saturday, May 17th 2008. The advertisements will be functioning, but the Application Programming Interface (API) will be shut down. So, do not get all worked up, if you do not see your API running. It would be up and running as soon as the maintenance is completed.

Online-Werbung: Die Mischung macht’s

Einer Case Study von Yahoo zufolge ist die Kombination von Display-Werbung und Suchmaschinenmarketing am erfolgreichsten.

Online-Kampagnen, die sowohl Display-Werbung als auch Suchmaschinenmarketing einsetzen, erzielen die beste Wirkung. Das ist das Ergebnis der aktuellen Studie "Yahoo! Close the Loop - Online-Werbesynergien" von Yahoo! Deutschland, dem Marktforschungsinstitut comScore und der Online-Mediaagentur Plan.Net. Am Beispiel der Online-Kampagne eines führenden Finanzdienstleisters wurden Wirkung und Synergie-Effekte von grafischer Werbung und Suchmaschinenmarketing untersucht. Bereits der alleinige Einsatz der Display-Kampagne konnte der Case Study zufolge erbrachte einen Anstieg der Nettwo-Reichweite der Kundenwebsite von über 200 Prozent. Bei den Suchanfragen suchten die Testpersonen sogar um mehr als 350 Prozent häufiger nach den Suchbegriffen der Kampagne, als die Personen ohne Display-Kontakt. Dieser Effekt setzt sich auch bei den Page Impressions und der Konversionsrate fort, so die Studie weiter.

Weit größere Effekte erzielte im Rahmen der Studie aber die Kombination aus Display-Werbung und Suchmaschinenmarketing.

Bei den Usern hingegen, die Kontakt zu sowohl Display- als auch Search-Kampagnen hatten, konnten die Performance-Ergebnisse nochmals entscheidend gesteigert werden. So erhöhte sich die Reichweite der Kunden-Website durch den Werbemix um mehr als das 15-fache. Ein Ähnliches Bild zeigte sich bei den Page Impressions: Bei Personen mit alleinigem Kontakt zur Display-Kampagne steigerten sich die PIs pro Nutzer auf 4 im Gegensatz zu 1,2 Page Impressions bei der Kontrollgruppe, die weder Kontakt mit der Display- noch mit der Suchmaschinenwerbung hatte. Testpersonen mit Kontakt zur Search- und Display-Kampagne, kamen dagegen auf 5,9 Page Impressions pro Nutzer. "Unsere aktuelle Studie belegt nicht nur die mittlerweile allgemein anerkannte Effizienz von Online-Werbung, sie beweist auch, wie die geschickte Kombination von Suchmaschinenmarketing und klassischer Display-Werbung einer Online-Kampagne den entscheidenden Kick zu einer besseren Performance geben kann", kommentiert Heiko Genzlinger, Commercial Director Yahoo! Deutschland.

Für die Studie "Yahoo! Close the Loop - Online-Werbesynergien", die in Deutschland, Frankreich, Großbritannien und Spanien durchgeführt wurde, wurden von September bis Oktober 2007 die Nutzungsdaten von 20.826 Personen allein in Deutschland im Panel von comScore untersucht. Die Studie ist bei Yahoo! Insights ( closetheloop@yahoo-inc.com )kostenlos erhältlich.

ComScore crowns new king

There's a new No. 1 property on the web, according to comScore, and for the first time it's Google.

The search leader finally surpassed Yahoo, according to comScore's measurement, which tracks total audience. Though Google has long been the web's search leader, it had trailed behind Yahoo in the audience department. However, sites like YouTube, Picasa and Gmail have finally put Google in the audience lead.

However, Google doesn't have much of a lead over rival Yahoo. The two companies are separated by about 466,000 total visitors.

But Jack Flanagan, comScore's executive vice president, told The Associated Press that Google's audience lead could create a "halo effect" that may boost the company's other products.

That halo effect could be just what the doctor ordered for YouTube. Despite a massive audience, Google hasn't found a way to monetize the site's traffic. But Google executives have made finding a business model for YouTube a top priority for this year, and the site has begun to release a slew of new products to court advertisers.

The comScore news comes one day after it was revealed that Google's search business is expected to surpass Microsoft's operating system business.

The Social Network Wars Begin In Earnest: Facebook Bans Google Friend Connect

Facebook is all about openness and data portability, as long as that doesn’t involve openness or portability of data, it seems.

Today they wrote a long 7 paragraph blog post to get a single point across: Facebook has banned Google’s Friend Connect access to the Facebook API:

Now that Google has launched Friend Connect, we’ve had a chance to evaluate the technology. We’ve found that it redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users’ knowledge, which doesn’t respect the privacy standards our users have come to expect and is a violation of our Terms of Service. Just as we’ve been forced to do for other applications that redistribute data in a way users might not expect or understand, we’ve had to suspend Friend Connect’s access to Facebook user information until it comes into compliance. We’ve reached out to Google several times about this issue, and hope to work with them to enable users to share their data exactly when and where they choose.

This of course has nothing to do with the fact that Facebook launched their own nearly identically named product called Facebook Connect three days before Google’s Friend Connect.

It’s not clear exactly what features of Friend Connect justified the ban, since it is so similar to what Facebook announced on Friday. Both products allow the export of profile and friend list data to third party websites.

In the last paragraph of the blog post, Facebook says they want to work with everyone: “We think MySpace’s Data Availability, Google Friend Connect, and Facebook Connect can be part of a great movement in the industry to give users a better and safer experience online, while respecting user privacy. We look forward to working with our developer community and everyone else in the industry to help all of our users take their information, and their privacy, with them wherever they go.” If that’s the case, this sure is an interesting start to a healthy working relationship with Google. Next up on the block list: MySpace and their Data Availability malware product, no doubt.

Thanks for the tip, Jesse.

Update: Facebook PR is pointing out Sections 2B(4), 2B(5) and 2A9(vi) of the Developer Terms of Service:

4) You may not store any Facebook Properties in any Data Repository which enables any third party (other than the Applicable Facebook User for such Facebook Properties) to access or share the Facebook Properties without our prior written consent.

5) You may not sell, resell, lease, redistribute, license, sublicense or transfer all or any portion of the Facebook Properties, or use or store any Facebook Properties for any purpose other than as specifically authorized herein.

You will not use Facebook Platform or any of your Facebook Platform Applications, and your Facebook Platform Application will not be designed…(vi) to request, collect, solicit or otherwise obtain access to usernames, passwords or other authentication credentials from any Facebook Users, or to proxy authentication credentials for any Facebook Users for the purposes of automating logins to the Facebook Site.

minimize
CrunchBase Information
Facebook
Facebook image
Website: facebook.com
Location: Palo Alto, California, United States
Founded: February 1, 2004
Funding: $493M

On February 4th, 2004 Mark Zuckerberg launched The Facebook, a social network that was at the time exclusively for Harvard students. It was a huge hit, in 2 weeks, half of the student body… Learn More
Google
Google image
Website: google.com
Location: Mountain View, California, United States
Founded: January 1, 1998
IPO: August 19, 2004

Google primarily provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world’s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of tools and platforms including its more popular… Learn More
Information provided by CrunchBase


He Said, She Said In Google v. Facebook
Michael Arrington
38 comments »

More details on Facebook’s banning of Google Friend Connect from the Facebook API earlier today. I spoke with Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly and Google’s Director of Engineering David Glazer about the banning to get a fuller picture of the conflict.

Here’s an example of how Friend Connect (more details) works in practice. A third party site may want to add social elements to their service. They can integrate with Friend connect and allow users to sign in. Those users choose a social network where they keep their profile (Orkut, Hi5, GTalk and, until today, Facebook) and log in via the social network’s API. They then become “members” of the site, using Google’s terminology. If any of their friends from their social network also become members of that site, those friends are shown on the site and you can interact with them. To see it for yourself, click “log in” at the top of this sample site, IngridMichaelson.

Kelly says the issue comes down to the fact that Google Friend Connect users don’t have control over data pulled from Facebook. In particular, Facebook is concerned that they have no relationship to the end site where the data is presented (in the example above, IngridMichaelson). Instead, Google has inserted itself as a middleman in the process.

Also, Kelly says, once permission is granted to share data, the user has no way to revoke that permission from their Facebook account. Facebook has a privacy control panel that lets users set and change privacy setting over time, including the removal of applications. With Google in the middle, Facebook has no way to stop the flow of data to these third parties.

Google’s Glazer counters that they have a very effective method for unlinking to a site that a user has given permission to, so users will be just fine. In the screen shot below, Google gives an option to “Unlink” the specific social network from the site (on right) or change the data that’s shared from the social network (on left). Kelly is correct that you can’t trigger the unsubscribe from Facebook.com, but Glazer says that’s because Facebook’s API has no way of telling Facebook about the third party site the data has been passed off to.

Glazer says that they have been in “constant contact” with Facebook over the Friend Connect product, and are still trying to work with Facebook to get access to the API again. But Facebook has their own competing product to Friend Connect, called Facebook Connect. The longer the ban, made under the banner of protecting user privacy, remains in place, the stronger Facebook’s position will be competitively. My guess is they’re in no hurry to get through this conflict any time soon.

The fact is that Google is taking perfectly adequate steps to protect user privacy with their Friend Connect product, and it is a useful product for users. After talking with both sides, it seems to me that Facebook is relying on a very convenient catch-22 to stay out of Google’s network. They are the ones in control of their own API functionality, and they could add features that fix this problem. Until they do, there’s nothing Google can do to remedy the “problem,” and the walls around the Facebook garden get ever higher.

SEMPO 2007 State of Market Survey Data- A surprising Major Online Ad Spend Trend

Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) conducted the SEMPO 2007 State of Market Survey, in which it found that about 80 % of the participating advertisers are more than willing to pay more for Behavioral Targeting. That in itself indicates towards a major shift in the Online Advertisement Spend Trend. The survey included the participation of 867 search engine advertisers and search engine marketing agencies

According to SEMPO, four out of five advertisers are not hesitant in increasing their online advertising budget to add behavioral targeting to their pay-per-click campaigns. Demographic targeting such as age and gender also saw a lot of willing takers, amounting to 57% of advertisers who were ready to spend more. On an average, advertisers are ready to increase their budget spending by 11% for both behavioral and demographic targeting. However, the actual investment in behavioral targeting is far lower than the interest shown in this field by the advertisers. 40% of the participants stated that as of now they aren't targeting or retargeting searchers, but they have been planning to do so in the next 12 months

Dayparting also showed a lot less interest by the advertisers. According to the survey, only 30% advertisers are interested in increasing their bids based on dayparting. In addition, 9% of advertisers confessed that the budget spending depended on their comfort levels.

According to Kevin Lee (Member SEMPO Board of Directors), “The next best thing to an impression or click from a search result is the ability to serve a highly relevant and targeted graphical or textual ad to a consumer while they are still very interested in their search. Online advertisers are always faced with the challenge that there is a finite number of searches occurring daily. Behavioral targeting gives advertisers an opportunity to expand the search marketing universe.”

This new developing trend in Online Advertisement Spending indicates a change of strategies by advertisers and will also compel online marketing companies to make some changes to their strategies as well.

web-bubble 2.0: Das große Start-up-Sterben hat begonnen

Wenn Businesspläne radikal geändert (Plazes), Auslandsexpansionen gestoppt (Joost) und die Venture Capitalists die Anschlussfinanzierungen verweigern, dann sollten die Alarmglocken klingen: Das große Start-up-Sterben im Web 2.0 hat offenbar begonnen. Zumindest drängte sich dieser Eindruck auf der next 08 in Hamburg auf. In Amerika und Großbritannien ist es schon deutlich zu sehen, in Deutschland berichten viele Insider von sehr unangenehmen Gesprächen der Gründer mit den VCs, die sehr kritisch nach der Erfüllung der Businesspläne fragen und am Ende ihr Geld lieber in der Tasche lassen. Viele Start-ups, die noch eine Anschubfinanzierung bekommen haben und nun in die zweite Finanzierungsrunde gehen, werden wohl nicht weitermachen können. Zumal in Deutschland die Szene, die mit ihrem Geld die Start-up-Szene finanziert hat, sehr klein ist. Veröffentlicht Freitag, 16. Mai 2008 00:08 von FAZ-ht