When users search on Foursquare’s website, a location-based social network for smartphones, for what to see in Paris or where to eat good Thai food, instead of a broad list the search results can now be tailored specifically to their preferences. It can now be termed a local search engine. Foursquare’s Explore feature is powered … Continued
The prediction that mobile searches and sales would escalate during the 2011 holidays came true. According to IBM, in December 2011 these numbers were double what they were for the same period last year. 14.6 percent of all online sessions on a retailer’s site launched from a mobile device, compared to 5.6 percent during the … Continued
Google has revolutionized its search results, with the new “Search Plus Your World” format. Starting today a “Personal Results” view appears showing results based on the user’s behavior and social connections. Private, Public & Social After searching, a message may appear such as “50 personal results and 419,000 other results”. Some of those 50 results … Continued
A survey sponsored by CityGrid Media and conducted by Harris Interactive confirmed what many of us already suspected–search engines are the leading way in which people find information for local businesses. Review sites are equally influential on mobile devices. This survey was conducted over the telephone to over 1000 adults in the US. Approximately 60% of … Continued
Google recently announced new details about their +1 button. Here are some of the highlights: – Full implementation is just weeks away. Soon the button will begin popping up on your favorite sites and can be easily implemented on your own as well – To generate a +1 button for your site, they will have … Continued
Today Google announced a new site blocking feature that allows signed in users to block sites from appearing in their search results. This is essentially the same functionality found in the Personal Blocklist extension only its now ported to Google as a whole, regardless of your browser.
During yesterday’s Farsight 2011 discussion, the topic of content farming was discussed among representatives from Google, Bing and Blekko. The discussion centered around whether content generated in this manner should be considered spam and produced some interesting insights into how engines treat and rank this type of content. For those of you who aren’t familiar … Continued