If you happened to search for a company or website on Google in the last week you may have noticed an additional search box appearing below the site links. The new site search feature was rolled out last week but seems to be limited to certain Google data centers. Therefore, results are sporadic depending on which Google IP address you’re hitting. This feature will perform a “secondary” search for pages within the original website. For example, if you Google “target” you should see the additional “search target.com” option below the site links. A searcher can then search for “Nintendo wii” and see all pages related to the “Nintendo wii” on the Target.com site.

Searchers have always been able to perform this deeper search by using an advanced command nintendo wii site:target.com (keyword SITE:websitename.com) While this command has been around for years, pushing it out the masses seems to be another attempt by Google to keep users on Google longer. Using the above example, you will notice that Google is serving paid search results for the secondary query of “Nintendo wii” on Target.com. Site owners can’t be too happy about delivering ads next to their site search results. Instead of a user searching for Target going directly to the site, Google is offering them another opportunity to buy the product from someone other than Target.

This new feature gives site owners an easier view of how Google ranks pages in relation to keywords. You may think one page is relevant for Nintendo Wii, while Google may be showing a completely different page. If you aren’t happy with the first result Google is showing for a specific keyword, you may want to focus your attention on building relevant content on that page. Anybody performing SEO would already have been looking at this, but Google has now made it easier. By pushing it to consumers, marketers will likely pay more attention to how Google views their pages and hopefully evaluate the current organic state of affairs.

Article by Ray Rosti

In 2006, the search world’s most famous butler Jeeves retired to live a life of carefree luxury.  I wonder if people still ask him questions. If he’s at a café somewhere in Spain dining with Julio Iglesias (who presumably no one is searching for), do you think he gets approached by someone saying “Is the Sony DCR200 any good?”

Once Jeeves rode off into the sunset, Ask rolled out Ask 3D and a commercial aimed at going after Google, Yahoo!, and Live.  Despite receiving critical acclaim, Ask was unable to grow its market share to a respectable level. It may be time for Jeeves to make a comeback.

Recently there have been a bevy of rumors and innuendos that must make Jeeves feel pretty happy to be retired.  Two weeks ago, there was talk of IAC cutting 8% of the Ask staff and re-focusing the service as  a Q&A engine geared to women.  It looked as if they threw in the towel in their fight against Google.  About three days after this initial report, Ask VP Nicholas Graham flatly stated that nothing could be further from the truth.  Graham went on to say that Ask has a loyal user base (women) and that they needed to focus on that audience.

There were also several indications that IAC may finally be getting rid of Teoma, the technology that powers their engine, in favor of using Google.  This makes sense for both parties, doesn’t it? Despite having a small audience, Ask would be an additional syndication partner for Google.  Ask would then be able to build on a search-satisfied audience by providing additional IAC/Ask-related offerings.  This too was shot down.

Several interested parties claim that abandoning the Ask technology is untrue, which could just be another way for IAC to avoid appearing desperate and being forced into a Google-favoring deal.  One thing is for sure, Jeeves certainly got out at the right time.

Article by Joshua Palau

This past week, a group of Avenue A | Razorfish web analytics consultants attended the Omniture Summit as a partner company. The Summit held in Salt Lake City, Utah, showcased Omniture’s continual growth and large Web analytics market share. Attended by 2,000+ people, this is approximately double the 2007 turnout and dwarfed attendance from prior years. The effect of Omnitures recent acquisitions of Visual Sciences could be felt throughout the event.

Omniture’s 2007 acquisitions have spurred new applications and offerings including, Discover on Premise (formally Visual Site from Visual Sciences). Visual Science’s HitBox product was renamed to Omniture SiteCatalyst HBX. Not a very creative rename from such a creative company, so I am sure there will be more to come as HBX is integrated into SiteCatalyst.

Offermatica and Touch Clarity both acquired in 2007 were repurposed as a Test and Target offering. Test and Target allows for site multi-variate testing, optimization, and content targeting. Omnitures ultimate goal is to turn site and landing page testing and content targeting into a completely automated process.

One highlight of the summit was the release of Version 14 of Omnitures core Web analytics product Site Catalyst. A completely new and we must say greatly improved user interface was premiered. Notably Site Catalyst 14 eliminates the separation of Campaign Conversion reporting and Traffic reports that were inherent in all prior versions. These changes allow for users to define their own reports in Site Catalyst.

A new version of SearchCenter was released with improved reporting and keyword capabilities. Omniture also announced a partnership with Chinese search leader Baidu, easing the entry to the rapidly developing Asian market for interested customers through their Genesis data integration interface.
Personally the most encouraging announcement of 2008 summit was Omniture’s additional focus on Excel Client integration. I have always felt Excel Client was a powerful but overlooked sub-feature of Site Catalyst. Excel Client, delivery options were improved, however I will hold off on my overall praise until I get a chance to review its overall stability.

From the customer perspective the Summit held to Omniture’s apparently unofficial mantra of “work hard, play hard”. I felt significant improvements this year in the sessions I attended. The inclusion of Forrester, Gartner, and Jupiter Media industry analysts as speakers provided significant insights. The summit also included keynotes from Ted Cannis of Ford, Lance Armstrong, and Seth Godin of Purple Cow fame.

Article by Joel Collymore

Yahoo! doesn’t need to hire The Emperor’s Club to find suitors…Is Yahoo! interested in a 3-way? Microsoft is being patient…and that might be a good thing. Yahoo! turned down a 62% premium because they think the offer undervalues their real worth. So…umm…what happens if Yahoo! misses its Q1 revenue goal? Can you say fire sale?

Google’s latest challenge? How do you keep the talent that made you what you are…when they're all filthy, stinkin, rich? The latest to go was Sheryl Sandberg, who was named the COO of Facebook. Sandberg served as the VP of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google. Her mission now will be to help build Facebook’s advertising network, as well as their international presence.