Microsoft Bing 'Friends' Facebook

In a news conference today at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft Bing and Facebook announced that they will be partnering to provide Bing with a search experience where your Facebook network helps inform your every query.

"Lets say your searching for Toyota Prius. Not only will you get the standard news and product links, there'll be a module near the top of your search that includes any Prius activity among your Facebook friends - articles they've liked, comments they've made, etc."

Expect huge privacy concerns with this new innovation..

Search Share Shakeup

Google continues to dominate search traffic with 72% of all U.S. searches, but Microsoft Bing is making serious headway. According to the latest research from Experian Hitwise that tracks September Internet traffic, searches powered by Bing account for 23% of searches, with Yahoo commanding 14% of searches.

-Cynthia Turner

Google's new "Instant Search" may have major effects for advertisers

Meet the new Google search. Typing out the full search query and hitting "enter" are things of the past. While it may not sound like a very exciting change, Google Instant is actually the largest change to the search giant in over a decade, and with it may come major changes for search engine marketers. On the new Google Instant, "search results and suggestions continually update as Google attempts to predict queries from the very first character entered in the search box. This is a major change in search technology and Google predicts this will save users more than 350 million hours a year, or two to five seconds per search, on average."

Now that you have the basics- CLICK HERE to jump over to Google, and complete a basic search before you read on.

So... did you stop to look at the screen, take a sip of your coffee, or sneeze while you were typing? My guess is you did, and if your brief pause was 3 seconds or longer, each of the paid listings on the top and right hand side of the page were considered, by Google's standards, impressions to the advertisers serving those ads.

Why this is bad: Increase in impressions = lower click through rate = negative impact on historical calculation of quality score = increase in the associated cost-per-click = higher costs without a higher return.

• In essence, there will be more total searches compiled. Many of our clients will have to pay more to compete in the search space, especially when bidding on more higher traffic keywords.

With Google Instant only a week or two old, we are forced to anticipate the impact of the engine's change and adjust our strategy accordingly. Stronger calls to action and page titles will be extremely important as there will be a much shorter time for searchers to view and interact with the results page.

Thought and resources:

• Putting paid search aside- Is the increase in brand exposure a good thing, even if for a second while the query is being typed?
• With this release, don't be surprised if Google AdWords give us an "average exposure time" metric.

Google aquires Metaweb to Improve Search

Over the course of the last few years, search engines have been moving to provide users with more relevant results by adopting third party data. This week, Google aquired "semantic web and real world database company Metaweb, a move the company says will help them improve search and make the web richer and more meaningful for everyone."

See below for an interesting clip that breaks down how Metaweb will change the way you search:

Thoughts and resources:

• Another third party may be entering the search space - Foursquare in talks with major search engines: http://bit.ly/cLC2aN

BP Damage Control Team Buying Search Terms

BP has purchased sponsored listings at the top of Google, Yahoo and MSFT Bing search results. Search for the terms "Oil Spill", "Oil Cleanup" or "Oil Leak" and you should find BP's oil disaster response website serving in the top position.

This is not uncommon. Many companies buy search terms in an attempt to control a message. What this means is that people searching for information about the spill have a good chance of seeing BP's site at the top of their search results. This practice is often considered unethical. Should we allow BP to control the message in the case of the biggest environmental disaster in US history? BP's ad:

BP Response

Learn About BP's Progress On The

Gulf Of Mexico Responce Effort.

www.BP.com/GulfOfMexicoResponse

And who is in the second position, you ask?

BP Gulf Oil Spill Lawsuit

Did you Suffer Damages From The

Gulf Oil Spill? Call 1-800-544-9922

www.OilSpillCleanUpLawsuit.com

Browse the web as if your at the 2010 World Cup

Had to have a little fun with this.. Let's go USA!!

• http://bit.ly/c8L6ER