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Hold the front page....Man has turkey sandwich!

Google released real-time search this week, incorporating Twitter and kin. So we at Greenlight took it for a road test. We evaluated what the pros and cons are for users and for marketers. Amidst all the hype, I can’t help feeling the usefulness of the results seems to range from the inconsequential, to the surreally disappointing. Admittedly these are early days, but in our first road tests, which happened to be on searches for ‘Turkey’ i.e. the country not the game fare, the impressive list of relevant results, which included Lonely Planet, The State Department, The CIA, The Turkish Tourism Ministry, had somehow been permeated by the resounding news, that ‘thoughtbeast’ (presumably an alias), was enjoying a sliced turkey sandwich for lunch. With milk and Doritos, no less! Ok, fair enough. Seasonally relevant perhaps, but way off the mark. Having been in search marketing for 10 years, and seen all... Read full article

The News Industry and Search Engines – Two camps emerge

Google has unveiled ‘The Living Stories’ prototype, a project in conjunction with The New York Times and The Washington Post. It explores a new way to get news to the masses online, which Google hopes other publishers will want to exploit with them too. The central concept is that particular news topics could be centralised under a single URL, updating in real time or near real time, to reflect what’s happening out there and how the respective subject, issue or story is evolving. Whilst these pages currently live on the Google domain, they will be migrated over to The New York Times and The Washington Post early next year. Pages include one about Health Care, Global Warming and other major topics. Google has essentially found a way to try and bring publishers on-side by offering them free search engine optimisation (SEO), and what in his view, would appear to be... Read full article

Google’s ‘Web History’ - Tailored to fit or exclude, is the question

Google has launched ‘Web History’, the new name for its personalised search feature, by default across its user base. Essentially, by monitoring what you click on in their results, Google can learn what sites you like and give them a ranking boost in your search results. This adds a further dimension to how Google ranks sites and pages, which had historically focussed largely on analysing on-page relevancy and third party links pointing into a site. Some of the advantages and disadvantages this will bring. For example in the case of the enterprise, new entrants online will find it more difficult to break into Google page 1 results if the sites a user has visited before have been given a preferential boost. On the other hand, for those firms that customers like, Google’s ‘Web History’ will enhance their ability to cross-sell new products far more effectively. It also calls into question... Read full article

Google's launch into UK online property poses a severe threat to property intermediaries

Google could become the biggest threat to online property intermediaries overnight Google is said to be considering a launch into the UK property market next year. This will allow both estate agents and private sellers to put their property for sale as an overlay on Google Maps. Whilst this is open to estate agents to exploit as well as private sellers, if it becomes incredibly popular, (and there’s every reason why it will), and the average private seller becomes more technologically savvy, estate agents as we know them, will cease to provide any real value to sellers and offer no value as part of the supply chain. Moreover, the role of the intermediary in online supply chain mechanics overall, is changing. In its early years the Internet was heralded as the great disintermediator – removing the need for middle-men across the entire spectrum of commercial affairs, and allowing manufacturers and... Read full article