Ads work better on search than social

Whilst on the topic of search,research from Mintel suggests that consumers are more likely to pay attention to ads on search engines and price comparison sites than on social networks.

New Media age reports that

consumers are most likely to pay attention to ads placed on search engines (54%) and price comparison sites (43%) than social networks (28%) and email (22%).

But there is also a gender issue

Women are more likely to see ads on social networking sites, 47% compared with 41% of men. But men are more likely to see ads when consuming on-demand video content as just 27% of women had seen an ad around VOD content compared with 36% of men.

Paul Bradshaw on the importance of linking

Paul Bradshaw has done a quick round up of media organisations failure to link directly to the report on social mobility which was published earlier this week.

Why is it important

Firstly, Google will rank a page more highly if it includes more outgoing links.
Secondly, people will return to your site more often if they know they can expect useful links.

As Paul says and I totally agree

So get your act together, please.

Signs of optimism for online advertising but SE goes into decline

It seems that the advertising slump has caught up with the search engine phenonoma according to this report in the FT this morning

Cuts in spending on search-engine advertising are accelerating even as the rate of decline in overall marketing outlay slows, according to a report by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising

says the report adding that at least up to now

Search advertising has hitherto held up better than any other part of the marketing mix.

But it seems no longer as

marketing professionals are cutting search spending by about 5 per cent, the IPA says, making this the only category to see an increased rate of decline.

Google for basics,twitter for core subjects

In the last decade, if you had a question to answer and access to the Internet; you likely opened your browser, visited Google.com, and typed in your question or related keywords.

But now social media has turned up

Websites, such as social media powerhouses Facebook and Twitter, now allow us to get immediate answers to the same questions, but immediately get those answers from our network of family, friends, coworkers, and people we trust.

Good point I think made over at Analytic Nick.

Certainly I am using twitter more and more to search for links and articles and the beauty is that if you follow the right people and the right subject areas,then it is an ideal search tool.

But let's not take anything away from Google,it is still my first point of all for non core searching

Google not only reporting what people say, but how you should think

According to the Register Google are now letting their staff picka and choose how pages are allocated withinn the search engine.(Ht-Mark Comerford)

They describe it as an

a historic statement - and nobody has yet grasped its significance.

The reason why this move is so significant is that whereas

A few years ago, Google's apparently unimpeachable objectivity got some people very excited, and technology utopians began to herald Google as the conduit for a new form of democracy.

thet have now confirmed that this objectivity is simply pie in the sky.

There have been doubts all along about this aspect and people have been rigging the search engine results for some time.But now

Make no mistake, Google is moving into new territory: not only making arbitrary, editorial choices - really no different to Fox News, say, or any other media organization. It's now in the business of validating and manufacturing consent: not only reporting what people say, but how you should think.

Search engines not up to scratch

Martin Belam has done some quick work looking at the response of the search engines to the overnight news from Mumbai.

His conclusion......"they are not performing very well"

Google has says Martin

some news results inserted into the one word search for 'mumbai', but they are not in the top slot. Searching for 'india' had the story down in fifth place, underneath some video content unrelated to the attack.

and as for Yahoo

The extensive terrorist attacks haven't yet managed to dislodge a story about George W. Bush and Thanksgiving turkey from the UK homepage

Meanwhile according to Dad blog

the Indian government asking for live Twitter updates to cease to protect their operations. For all sorts of reasons, this seems to be significant.

You can get tweets at #Mumbai at Mumbai

A seach step too far?

Jeff Jarvis highlights a case of information segregation over at Buzz machine.

His comments concern a black orientated search website called Rushmore Drive

I get the content part, of course. I also understand specialized search engines based on need or interest — jobs v. homes v. medicine, and so on. But isn’t there a danger in creating a search engine segregated along racial lines? Does it create more separation? Does it create a new sort of echo chamber? Does it limit the world reached by the search? I would never want to use a search engine aimed at middle-aged, suburban white guys like me; I want the world. And how do they know what is black-oriented content?

says Jeff

I agree with him to a certain extent.The concept of the web is that of freedom of information,the ability to serach for any topic.Going down thuis route could have ernormous consequences

Bush,Obama and the Dogs

I can't resist it,"going to the dogs"


Staying with the New York Times,it is often interesting to see what is being searched for using a newspapers own search engine.

Currently on the New York Times topics we have the usual suspects,Bush,Obama,China,health,clinton,iraq but at No 10,........

Westminster Dog Show


Further investigation reveals that

The Westminster Kennel Club dog show had grand ambitions from its inception in 1877, when nearly 1,200 dogs trotted through the Hippodrome at Gilmore's Garden in New York City. Though that number was lower than promised – the show had hoped to attract nearly 1,500 to make it the biggest in the world – it was an auspicious beginning. By 1937, breeders, owners, aficionados and fans could see 3,147 dogs compete in breed, group and best-in-show competitions. Today, the annual event is the second oldest continuously held sporting competition in the United States, after the Kentucky Derby.

And furthermore

Uno the beagle’s best-in-show victory at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Tuesday night attracted an average of 3.4 million viewers on the USA channel, up 23 percent from last year’s broadcast. USA’s Web site had a record day, with 5.5 million page views, up 63 percent from the same day last year.

I

Google taking on the world

A Fair amount of debate in cyberspace over the announcement at the end of last week that Google's news site will become the publisher for 4 international news agencies.

For those that missed it,Press Association, Associated Press, Canadian Press and Agence France-Presse will allow Google to scan their news stories and omit those that are duplicated versions from the news agencies that other sites host.

The initial reaction is the worry that Google is taking over the world ,as always,and that it may be the first step to Google actually putting news on its own site .

A good post from Ryan Sholin who gives three reasons why this is a good move.

And from Steve Borris who says

perhaps a bigger obstacle to Google News is that people simply don’t live their lives consulting search engines every time they need to make a decision

Steve,I belive is correct because people like to go to the original site and this additional platform can only give further exposure to original journalists copy.

Update Media Guardian 10th Sept from Jeff Jarvis