LBi Search: LBi Search Newsletter: October 2008

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Acquisitions and Partnerships

Google/Yahoo! deal canned

After delaying their partnership to allow regulators to look into it further, Google have walked away from a deal rather than face government oversight of the partnership.

Facebook starts to integrate Microsoft Live Search

The partnership between Facebook and Microsoft has existed since 2006 and now it is possible for Facebook's U.S. users to search the web using Microsoft Live Search technology without leaving the Facebook web site. Microsoft have also announced that adCenter ads will appear next to the search results.

Russia blocks Google's acquisition of ZAO Begun

Russian regulators have blocked Google's $140 million acquisition of search and contextual video and text advertising company ZAO Begun. Google says it is reviewing the decision.

Search News and Research

Yahoo! Update

Yahoo! announced an update on the 14th of October, although changes to their search results were noticed a few days beforehand. As with any update, rankings will fluctuate as sites gain or lose positions.

IAB shows H1 internet advertising revenues up 15% from same period in 2007

Advertising industry body the IAB figures show that internet advertising grew 15% in the first half of 2008 compared to the same period last year. Search and display-related advertising continue to make up the lion's share of the market, with 44% and 33% shares respectively, and grew 24% and 19% respectively compared to last year.

Almost half of people who use social networks have also visited one via a mobile phone [ABI Research]

According to a survey by ABI Research 46% of people who social networks have accessed a social network via a mobile phone. MySpace and Facebook had by far the highest penetration rates of these mobile social network users, with nearly 70% and 67% of these people respectively visiting these social networks. All other social networking sites had a penetration rate amongst mobile social network users of less than 15%.

Google reaches book scanning copyright settlement

Google have reached an agreement with book publishers which will end the copyright dispute surrounding Google Book Search. The agreement gives Google permission to scan and index in-copyright books. With this agreement in place it will now become easier to locate in-copyright but out-of-print books, as it will now be possible to search for, preview and buy these books online, and the agreement now allows up to 20% of a book to be previewed for free. There will also be a compensation scheme for authors and publishers who will get a share of revenues. The agreement settles the lawsuit brought by a group of authors and publishers, along with the Authors Guild and the AAP (Association of American Publishers).

Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft plus human rights groups agree to plan to protect free speech

Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft have joined forces with a number of human rights groups and other organisations to found the Global Network Initiative. The aim of this programme is to protect freedom of expression and privacy and requires companies that join to protect their users by following certain guidelines.

AOL to scrap over 50 projects

AOL have undertaking a massive cost-cutting exercise and are to kill over fifty projects. The axed projects fall across a wide spectrum and include initiatives in areas such as video, radio, messaging, social platforms, toolbars, free hosting, mobile, e-mail and more. It is worth noting that many of these are legacy or duplicate services - for example, they are removing an old calendar system but still continue to run a more modern version.

New Product Launches

Windows Azure - Microsoft creating an operating system for cloud computing

Microsoft are developing a new operating system for servers which will allow hosting of applications and data remotely. Windows Azure is a step into the cloud computing arena, one in which many companies such Google and Amazon are already competing. Windows cloud will be a separate project to Windows 7, Vista's successor, but will be released alongside it.

Major upgrade to Google Analytics

Google are rolling out a number of updates to their analytics package, Google Analytics. Along with a new user interface, the new features will include advanced visualisation via motion charts, the ability to create custom reports, advanced segmentation (which allows you to separate out different traffic sources) and various areas of integration with AdSense. Some of these new features will be made available in public beta, with others (AdSense integration and access to the analytics API) restricted to private beta for the time being. Google are calling this a "major upgrade" to the service.

Yahoo! rolling out Yahoo! Web Analytics

Yahoo! Web Analytics has already been made freely available to some advertisers and third-party application developers, but is now being rolled out to the 13,000 users of the Yahoo! Small Business service. Yahoo! will be gradually expanding the free service to more users through to next year.

Google launches AdSense for Games

After over a year of speculation Google have finally launched Google AdSense for Games. This new programme will allow the placement of video, image or text-based adverts within online, primarily browser-based games. As with Google's other advertising efforts the adverts will be contextually targeted. For now the programme is in beta, and the requirements to participate include a minimum of half a million game plays per day.

Microsoft launches SearchPerks programme

In another attempt to gain search market share, Microsoft's have launched a new programme called SearchPerks which rewards searchers with tickets which can redeemed for various prizes such as music downloads and airline miles. Microsoft have restricted this programme to users of their own Internet Explorer web browser.

Google's new blog search home page shows live overview of the blogosphere

Unlike the old Google Blog Search home page, which simply featured Google's classic search box, the revamped Google Blog Search home page is very similar to Google News. Google tracks stories being discussed over multiple blogs, and presents a view of the most popular topics on the home page. Google Blog Search also allows users to browse topics within a particular niche, such as Technology or Sports, and shows the most popular topics being discussed at the moment within each of these categories.

Yahoo adds more local content

Yahoo are now including more local information in their search results via the Yahoo! SearchMonkey applications from Citysearch and Zagat, both now provided by default to Yahoo! users. The Citysearch SearchMonkey application provides local business listings & reviews, while the Zagat SearchMonkey application provides information about restaurants. This adds further to the growing number of SearchMonkey applications which Yahoo! has enabled for all users. Example search for car dealers dawlish

Google Webmaster Tools adds URLs of broken links

Google have added information about the sources of broken links to their free Webmaster Tools service. This means that it is now easier to locate pages which are linking to non-existent pages on your site. Google's high-profile blogger Matt Cutts has promoted this tool, saying that it converts already-existing links to your site into much higher quality links, for free. This new tool provides yet another reason for companies to provide access to Google's Webmaster Tools to their SEO agencies.

Ask launches version 11 - adds definitions, more quick answers

Ask have launched the next iteration of their search engine. The main new feature is the inclusion of many more definitions and "onebox" answers, selected automatically from both web pages and from structured data partners. Ask claim that the new version is 30% faster and more accurate.

Search Industry Market Share Updates

US search market share updates

Web statistics companies Nielsen and comScore have released their US search engine market share figures for September. Both companies showed Google having a very slight drop in market share in September, with a 59.7% and 62.9% share respectively. The statistics differ more after this, with Nielsen showing Yahoo! staying put at 18.1% market share whereas comScore shows a gain from 19.9% to a 20.2% market share. comScore shows Microsoft dropping 0.4% to 8.5%, whereas Nielsen shows a gain of 1.1% to 11.8%.

Note: Differences in statistics will inevitably arise due to different samples, sample sizes and methodology.

Google market share in France increases to 82% in August [comScore]

Google's market share in France has increased from 81.3% in July to 82% in August. Microsoft, currently the second most popular search engine in France, dropped from 3% market share to 2.7% over the same period, although number 4 Yahoo! gained 0.3% to reach 2.3% market share.

These comScore market share figures are measured by number of searches performed.

MySpace still #1 social network in the US but Facebook growing fast [Hitwise]

MySpace is still top in the US with a 67.54% market share, but Facebook has grown 50% over the past year to reach 20.56%, partly at the expense of leader MySpace who lost 10% over the same period.

Third and fourth places were held by myYearbook and Tagged, which experienced massive growth of 256% and 147% respectively - however, this still only puts them on relatively small market share figures of 1.65% and 1.53% market share overall. AOL-owned Bebo has dropped 32% over the last year and has been overtaken by both myYearbook and Tagged and now holds fifth place with only a 0.94% market share.

Despite the massive growth rates of Facebook, myYearbook and Tagged, the overall market share of visits to all sites in the social networking category actually fell in August.

Google Maps US market share growing, gaining on market leader MapQuest[Hitwise]

Google's market share of the online mapping market has increased from 22.2% in early January to 32.17% at the end of September. Market leader MapQuest's market share has dropped from 50.25% to 44.3% over the same period. If this trend continues at its present rate Google Maps could potentially become the top US mapping service within the next six months.

German web users watched nearly 100 YouTube videos per person in August [comScore]

Online video usage is exploding in Germany, with new research by comScore showing that German web users watched almost 100 YouTube videos per person in the month of August. The average number of views per person of all online videos was 117.6. Google sites (primarily YouTube) easily made the majority of all views with a commanding 52.1% share, with the next biggest group of sites having only a tiny 1.5% market share of online video.

MSN Live Search Cashback Scheme showing results [Hitwise]

The percentage of Live.com users going to Microsoft's Cashback has gone up from 2.75% in July to 6.29% in early October. Hitwise also shows that Microsoft's overall search market share has remained relatively constant, reversing a long downward trend. Google's market share has however continued to increase every month during this period, largely at the expense of Yahoo!