News: Yahoo Launches Tech News Channel

Content, it's the new black. Yahoo Tech is up. In short, it's a consumer tech magazine online. But with a bunch of Yahoo's social, search, and so on tech integrated.

From the release:

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today launched Yahoo! Tech, a new Web site that gives consumers plain-English advice and information about choosing and using the technology that has become a part of their daily lives. Yahoo! Tech (http://tech.yahoo.com) was developed with the simple philosophy of making technology easy for all Yahoo! users, especially those without a deep understanding of technology and gadgets.

The site features a broad selection of original and licensed content, hundreds of thousands of products with community product ratings and reviews, as well as shopping, community and personalization features from across the Yahoo! network. Four experienced technology advisors, each focused on a specific audience such as “moms,” “boomers” or “working guys,” offer daily guidance for consumers looking to choose or use consumer electronics from one of 19 categories, including computers, cell phones, digital cameras and MP3 players.

Not a revelation, honestly, we knew this was coming. But is is interesting to see Yahoo go after the folks at IDG, Cnet, and others.

• Posted by John Battelle at 10:24 PM
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Updated: Alexa Now and Then

Via Threadwatch and SELowdown, news that Alexa is now powered by MSFT Live, rather than Google. Here's a screen shot of Alexa (via IA, natch) last year (powered by Google)...

...and here's a snip from the service now.

I've pinged Bruce Gilliat at Alexa to ask about this, but as I've said over and over, Amazon and Google are on a collision course. This is an interesting development.

Updated: A9 is also now powered by Live.com. It's on.

• Posted by John Battelle at 10:56 AM
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Yahoo And The Yellow Pages: Co-opt, or Co-opetition?

Yahoo Local has rolled out an update to its business model for local merchants, and it's looking a lot like what the Yellow Pages do, only online, self service, cheaper, and, well, what I've been on about for a while - a step towards the online version of what the Yellow Pages really need to become.

I spent some time with the Yellow Pages industry earlier this week at their annual conference, and I must say they are pretty tuned in to all of this. They were most interested in whether or not they should work with Google (Verizon just decided to sell AdWords, for example), but I told them in no uncertain terms that they needed to watch Yahoo. Why? Because Yahoo has built in the ability for local merchants to interact directly with the listings, to create contnt for their businesses, and to buy premium listings.

Today Yahoo has moved the needle again, adding Local Featured Listings, a way for merchants to buy placement on results pages - it's basically sponsored links, but with a twist. I spoke to Paul Levine, who runs Yahoo Local, and he told me that there has been a lot of demand from local merchants to be "at the top of the page" for a given result. Now, for between $20 and $300 a month, they can be.

This reminds me very much of the YP model of paying more or less for size of ad on the page, (they also pay more or less for the headers - ie and ad in Flowers is more expensive than an ad in Scuba Equipment).

Folks are already signing up (see this search for Bike Shop Boulder), and I see this as potentially a significant new revenue stream for Yahoo Local.

But wait, you say, this is just Overture listings, right? No, not in the end. In the end, if Yahoo is smart, this will be where local merchants advertise, not national 800 number chains. Why? Because that's where the true value is in the YP, and that's what should be up front. The race to win the online YP will be all about understanding how users actually USE the service. And right now, it's Yahoo's to lose.

• Posted by John Battelle at 10:50 AM
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Melanie's Round Up

We're still catching up - AdTech plus travel means a very backed up week. Here's Melanie's second edition:

Yahoo and AT&T cozy up together in a co-branded Messenger with Voice, adding high speed internet to Y! Messenger and making AT&T Yahoo's preferred global network provider.

Google Earth & SketchUp
"Visionaries, utopians, virtual world builders: your time has come." Can't you just feel the warm-fuzzies?

Today Google announces a free version of SketchUp in Earth, paired it with a 3D Warehouse wherein amateurs and aficionados can share their virtual monuments and collaborate on new creations. Earth brought the flying experience. The SketchUp synch lets the users fly about and build their world--flagging favorite spots, localizing friends, errecting their childhood home.

ACEnews Editor-in-Chief, Randall Newton imagines using Google SketchUp to track migration and environmental change, adding he might like to "identify Arctic Ocean waterfront property, then use SketchUp to model my dream beachfront home. I wonder what five acres on a good harbor in arctic Canada will be worth in 20 years?"

More Yahoo: Yahoo integrates Babel Fish---allowing users to translate blocks or text or whole pages into 38 language pair choices by preference . Especially timely, Yahoo says, citing research that finds "less then 30 percent of people online speak English as a native language (Byte Level Research, Nov. 2005)."

Gnarles Barkely's new song "Crazy" is hitting the charts before it even hits the stores. Fred Wilson, over at A VC, notes that charts from Wiredset---the company that tracks the popularity of entertainment at MySpace---shows it going viral. It's actually become #1 in the UK purely through MP3 sharing, again before the cd release, updates Fred.

Brightcove opens its service to the public. Watch this space...

John Jantsch at DuctTape Marketing has a new product, called Duct Tape Marketing Local Search Engine, that generates profiles for clients and feeds them to directories of note. As a bonus, clients' profiles are also listed in Jantsch's directory. (Caveat - John is an FM author...but still, this is a cool idea).

• Posted by John Battelle at 4:18 PM
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The Intention Cloud

How cool is it that some smart geeks hacked up an application inspired by the Database of Intentions framework of The Search? Check out The Intention Cloud. From the About section:

The Cloud is the result of a mashup between the concept of 'Database Of Intention' and 'Tag Clouds' visualization. The current live engine of the Intention Cloud is collecting data from the Google Suggest service, but will be extended in the future to integrate other databases of intention.

Here's the cloud for "we want"....

• Posted by John Battelle at 3:03 PM
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Quaeroless? Exalead CEO Says There'll Be No Quaero Site

What the hell is Quaero? Yesterday I had a chance to put that question to Francois Bourdoncle, CEO and co-founder of Exalead, a leading European enterprise search company (and partner in Quaero, whatever it turns out to be). It was a timely conversation, as French President Jacques Chirac announced a $2.5 billion initiative earlier this week, a major portion of which was earmarked for Quaero.

If all you had to go by was Google results, chances are you'd be confused in your search to figure out what Quaero was all about. Wikipedia has an entry (in French, of course). Other news outlets seem to think Quareo is in fact a real search engine - albeit one with a multimedia focus - under development by the French and German government in partnership with private European media conglomerates like Thompson, and smaller startups like Exalead.

That's what I thought, and in response I said that it was a deeply dumb idea. But turns out, we were all responding to the wrong thing.

Sure, Chirac seems to think he's funding a European competitor to Google, but it turns out, eh...not so much. Chirac "doesn't even know what a mouse is," Bourdoncle told me. (The Guardian today was even harsher, wondering if Chirac "had been sniffing a little too much camembert.")

So what is he funding? Well, according to Bourdoncle, there will be no single Quaero site. Instead, Quaero is a program, a long term effort to spur various European competitors toward creating better search related technologies. Participants will share R&D, for example, as well as become each other's customers. In other words, this is a government funded attempt at pulling together a keiretsu of sorts.

Not exactly a European Google killer, I commented. Nope, Bourdoncle responded, and attempting to do that would be a pretty stupid move. I couldn't agree more. Sounds to me, I thought to myself, that Quaero is simply a way for huge companies like Thompson to insure a steady flow of dollars from its government, and if using the Big Google Is Going to Kill European Culture meme helps along the way, so be it. Before I could even mention that idea, Bourdoncle addressed it head on, saying he was sure folks might see it that way, and he was not one to say if it was true or not. "I'm not really sure what (Thompson's) strategy is," he said. "They don't tell me that." Sounds like the keiretsu is shaping up nicely, no?

Meanwhile, Farber has more on Bourdoncle and Exalead here. Seems this company is one to watch, even if Quaero isn't....

• Posted by John Battelle at 1:10 PM
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At ad:tech Today

I'll be on a panel today (on search, natch) at ad:tech in SF, if you're around, come say hi!

• Posted by John Battelle at 7:04 AM
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Google Promotes First Non Google Product on Homepage

And it's Firefox, and the execution is not exactly subtle. Now, it's only promoted to folks inside the US, and only folks using IE (which is to say, most people, but not Mac folks like me who use Firefox or Safari). And, of course, Google Toolbar is featured heavily.

Up at Microsoft, they're probably ordering new chairs for Ballmer's office...
.

• Posted by John Battelle at 6:43 AM
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The Melanie Round Up

Melanie has been hard at work poring through feeds, looking for items of interest. She's already got a bunch of great stuff, and as I've been behind, here are some highlights of stories from the past two days:

Adsense is allowing text links for referrals. And Matt is coy about using Toolbar data for search relevance. As I wrote in the book, I think clickstreams could be the next step in relevance.

A major new grassroots net neutrality campaign. Om says it's missing some angles.

How much do you Google? This is getting a lot of attention.

Yahoo is catching up in clickthroughs...

Sphere is launching. I can't wait to use it. But the site is not open...yet...

Yahoo makes Meedio free. Talk about a TV mashup....

More to come....

• Posted by John Battelle at 9:05 PM
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China Rediscovers Porn, Bans It

When you're a totalitarian state with control over the entire Internet, and you decide to ban porn, you can actually do it. From a Times Online report:

Beijing has declared war on the wave of "unhealthy" internet content it says is engulfing the nation’s cyberspace, amid fears China's young are being corrupted en masse by an influx of online sex and violence.

The nation's leading news sites and internet portals have vowed to adhere to a strict programme of "self-censorship" to support the "Eight Honours and Disgraces", a new doctrine of "socialist morality" recently laid out by Hu Jintao, the Chinese President. ...

....The West's leading internet players, - Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and eBay - have all been caught in the resulting controversy.

But the lure of China's prospects has offset fears of negative reactions from their domestic markets. Last week, Bill Gates, the Microsoft chairman and founder, hosted Mr Hu at a dinner during the politician's visit to America.

Eric Schmidt, the Google chief executive, used the recent relaunch of the company's brand in China to reaffirm his commitment to the territory and made it clear that Google has no intention of confronting China's ruling Communist Party over online restrictions.

Well, they're learning from the best, aren't they?

• Posted by John Battelle at 12:23 PM
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Updated with Interview: Lanzone Now CEO Of Ask

So, re-read this interview from last week. Congrats Jim! If only I knew then what we know now...working on getting a few updates from His CEO-ness...

Release here.

Update: Jim was kind enough to answer three questions before he left for SES Italy, where he is slated to give a talk. I asked him, in order - How does it feel?; What about competing with your old boss Steve; and will there be changes at Ask? His answers:

1. How feel?

Steve has been an incredible mentor for me and we had a lot of successes together, so I'm sad to see him go. The good news is that we have a great team in place, including the other CEOs, Scott Garell, who runs the IAC Consumer Applications group (includes iWon, Excite, Smiley Central, MyWay and now Evite) and Paul Gardi, the former Teoma president who is now CEO of IAC Partner Marketing. Together with the other senior leaders here and Barry, Doug and the IAC management team, I think we'll be in good shape going forward with the IAC Search & Media business. At Ask, I've also been lucky enough to build out and amazing team, which truly operates as a team, and we'll keep building out with more IAC investment.

2. Compete

I don't know all the details, but my understanding is that Steve's new role is broader than just search, encompassing all of MSN and Live, as well as the AdCenter group. He'll have plenty to worry about other than little ole us. On the other hand, he is one of the big boys now. To me, both Google and MSN are like Internet Explorers in search and we're the Firefox trying to grow in some other way. That doesn't stop now that Steve is there.

3. Changes?

No, steady on. We feel strongly about our strategy and the way we do business, and we'll keep pushing forward. The biggest change will be opening our minds to the possibilities of what we can do and who we can be, as IAC invests in our product development and marketing, as well as growing our employee base to accelerate our curve. Its a very different Ask than it was a year ago, and we'll look different still a year from now. It's going to be a long fight in our battle against the big boys, but pound for pound, there won't be a more exciting place to be than Ask.

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:18 AM
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Travelin'

I'll be moving around the country till Tuesday, so posting will be light. Let's hope no more CEOs leave one company for another!

• Posted by John Battelle at 7:57 PM
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News: Berkowitz to Microsoft

(image credit) Rumors have been flying for some time, and I was not posting them. But now I have confirmation. Steve Berkowitz, head of Ask and someone I've worked with indirectly in the past (he was at IDG Books when I was at The Standard, an IDG property), is going to run MSFT's online MSN.

Wow.

Will take some time to digest this. I had just asked him to speak at Web 2. Now I REALLY want him to speak at Web 2.

An email I just got from MSFT PR, which includes an email from Kevin Johnson, a group president over MSN at MSFT:

Microsoft has hired Steve Berkowitz as SVP of the Online Business Group. He will be responsible for running the Online Business group, which includes include MSN.com, MSNTV and MSN Internet Access programming, advertising sales, business development, and marketing for Live Platforms, MSN and Windows Live. This team’s mission is to deliver world-class go to market leadership, that wins customers to our services and builds a world leading advertising business. The responsibility for the monetization of our Live Platform, MSN and Windows Live assets is owned by this team, and includes end-to-end management of the online P&L.

As you know, Steve is an accomplished senior executive with a rich skill set, including brand building, marketing operations, people management, finance and tech. Please know that PressPass will be updated shortly with additional information, so please check back shortly. Feel free to call if you have any questions.

MAIL FROM KEVIN JOHNSON
I am pleased to announce that Steve Berkowitz will be joining the Platforms and Services Division (PSD) as Senior Vice President, Online Business Group, reporting to me. Steve succeeds David Cole, who will begin his leave of absence in May.

Most recently, Steve was the CEO of Ask.com, a division of IAC/InterActiveCorp. At Ask, Steve is credited with building the management team that orchestrated the turnaround of Ask.com, grew their user base, increased customer satisfaction, and gained share in the search market over the last year.

Steve is an accomplished senior executive with a rich skill set, including consumer brand building, media, marketing, operations, people management, finance, and technology. He also brings a great blend of start-up and high growth business experiences. Prior to joining Ask, Steve was the President and COO of IDG Books, where he successfully built a consumer brand by expanding the "Dummies" series of books to cover topics ranging from C++ to pet care.

Steve’s management experience, deep functional knowledge of the search and Internet space, and understanding of both the offline and online publishing worlds make him a great choice to lead the Online Business Group. He is a proven leader, and is excited by the opportunity to take the assets we’ve built in MSN and drive our software + services vision forward.

Steve will start this assignment on May 8th. David Cole and I will work together to ensure a smooth transition to Steve.

• Posted by John Battelle at 6:08 PM
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Yahoo Research Video Mashup Tool

Now, this is what I'm talkin' about! From the Yahoo Blog:

As those in the Bay Area may know, today marks the beginning of the 49th annual San Francisco International Film Festival, which shines a spotlight on great independent film projects from all over the world.

This year is a special one for us because the Festival features a web-based video remixer prototype created by Yahoo! Research Berkeley, in partnership with San Francisco Film Society and San Francisco State University Institute for Next Generation Internet.

So, what is this thing? International Remix enables you to create your very own movie mashups. Go crazy with creativity and re-edit, remix and mash-up film selections from this year's festival into 1-minute remixes. You can then post your remixes to the site gallery for others to view and enjoy.

It ain't exactly setting Bugs free, nor is is Mr. Murdoch giving away his video on the web....yet. But it's a start.

• Posted by John Battelle at 10:29 AM
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Yahoo, Google Earnings Casts

This week, Yahoo had a good quarter, and Google redefined "crush the numbers." Want to track this stuff? Gary has found a service that has all the earnings calls in one place for free here.

• Posted by John Battelle at 9:59 AM
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Welcome, Melanie!

Those of you who enjoy my hand wringing about Searchblog's future will no doubt recall when I posted a job listing for an editorial assistant to Searchblog. I was happily inundated with responses to that call, with folks from all backgrounds contacting me, from PhDs in literature to Masters in Information Sciences, from established journalists to kids still in college.

Deciding on the right fit took a long time, and was further complicated by the fact that the job will split duties with FM - this person needs to not only help make Searchblog better, but also needs to help other authors in the FM network as well.

Well, it's taken some time, but I'm pleased to announce that Melanie Colburn has joined the team this week. Melanie comes to us most recently from Google, where she had been working as a contractor. Yup, I'm pleased to say I stole her away from the very company I cover so closely, but not to worry - Melanie refuses to even whisper anything about her role there - and it's that kind of integrity that drew me to her.

Melanie is a Berkeley grad (I'll admit a slight bias!) and has done a lot of work at various publications and student and activist organizations (here's her personal site). She's already helping me in numerous ways, including preparing interviews for publication and grokking the enormous influx of news coming in each day. As time goes by, expect to see a lot of improvements around here, thanks to Melanie. Welcome!

• Posted by John Battelle at 7:28 AM
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EBay to MSFT, Yahoo: Let's Circle the Wagons Against dem Google Injuns

The Journal has the story: EBay Talks to Microsoft, Yahoo About a Common Foe: Google

From the piece, which requires paid subscription:

EBay Inc. is talking to both Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. to determine whether one of them might be a worthy ally against a common threat: Google Inc.

After years of working closely with the search giant, eBay last year became alarmed as Google started assaulting its turf in multiple ways. In one case, Google launched a classified-advertising service that competes directly with eBay's online auctions and other listings.

This is driven, of course, by Base, but also by Talk and other apps. The Times has a report that is free, covering the Journal news.

• Posted by John Battelle at 7:05 AM
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The Long Tail

Chris' cover is done. Congrats (and it's quite something how those NY publishers will push Google onto the cover, eh buddy?! Awfully nice quote from Eric!)

• Posted by John Battelle at 1:24 PM
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Google Q1

More to come but just out:

The after hours markets likey.

Google Announces First Quarter 2006 Results

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - April 20, 2006 - Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)
today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2006.

"Google had an exceptional quarter with strong growth and
profitability, from both Google properties and the network," said
Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. "We are driving this growth through
investments in our infrastructure and our people, product innovations
that attract new users, and relationships with advertisers and partners
around the world. The strength of our business model gives us the
opportunity to invest in our business, allowing us to maintain and grow
our market leadership."

Q1 Financial Summary
Google reported revenues of $2.25 billion for the quarter ended March
31, 2006, an increase of 79% compared to the first quarter of 2005 and
an increase of 17% compared to the fourth quarter of 2005. Google
reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without
deducting traffic acquisition costs, or TAC. In the first quarter of
2006, TAC totaled $723 million, or 32% of advertising revenues.

• Posted by John Battelle at 1:11 PM
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Google News

Is coming fast.

First, you know I am not a huge fan of the doodles, but I like today's - celebrating Miro. (My favorite is still Braille....)

Next, Google Page Creator is now open to anyone with a Google account. (Thanks Rick)

A major piece on Google (and others) and China is coming from the NYT Magazine.

Om finds MSFT is preparing a response to Google in storage.

Google Cars? Yup, another Base implementation.

Calendar now has an API.

Inevitable: Google using Flash ads to promote itself.

• Posted by John Battelle at 1:05 PM
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Fathom Update

A couple of comments in my Tuesday post about Fathom got stuck in my junk folder, and I just cleared them. One of them was from Matt McMahon, at Fathom. He responds to the questions raised in the comments, so I wanted to point you to that....

• Posted by John Battelle at 12:05 PM
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Dinner with Elliot Schrage

Last night I finally got a chance to sit down with Elliot Schrage, who was recently (well, six months ago) named VP of Global Communications and Public Affairs for Google. I'd been looking forward to meeting him - I've worked closely with his brother, author Michael Schrage, in the past, and more to the point, I was intrigued to find out more about the fellow who would be responsible for shepherding Google's brand from Cute One Note Service to Massive Global Player. Elliot knows global issues - he was previously SVP for Global Affairs at Gap and a Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He got his trial by fire just recently when he had to testify before a group of ornery Congressfolk on the issue of China.

The dinner was off the record, so I can't really report the details of what we discussed, but I can say that I found Elliot frank, engaging, and self deprecating - but not overly so. He understands the essence of Google's major challenge - becoming the company the world already expects it to be. As I've written elsewhere, I believe the Google brand is in need of message clarification - most folks still see it as that "Aha!" service that changed how they search the Web, but increasingly, it's also the brand that does deals with Sony Pictures to promote personalized homepages. Clearly, brand strategy is on Schrage's mind.

David Krane, director of corporate communications at Google and a major champion of my book inside the company, also joined us. Having been at the company for a long time, David is something of a bridge between the past and the future of the Google brand. Both seemed deeply engaged in what struck me as the right questions for the company. I'm glad I had a chance to sit down with them before finishing that last chapter of my paperback. Oh, shit, that was due last month....I better get back to writing...

• Posted by John Battelle at 10:41 AM
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Interesting New Google Results Test

Check this out. Thanks, reader Doug.

"Search this site" is integrated into the results, allowing a searcher to drill down into a particular site, right there in the SERPs. Interesting.

• Posted by John Battelle at 4:23 PM
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Another Q&A: Toni Schneider of OddPost, Yahoo, and Now Automattic

This is from my Biz 2 column, which just posted on CNNMoney.

From it:

So you've left Yahoo, with thousands of employees, to run a company with--how many people?

"There's five of us."

In the Valley, some entrepreneurs like to build things and run them. Others like to build them and hand them off once they get to a certain size. Where do you fit?

"I found that my sweet spot is in taking something at the prototype stage, where there's proof of concept but there isn't market validation yet. It can then be handed to somebody whose business is to take it to the mass market. It takes a different skill set to just start from scratch and say, 'I'm just going to sit there for a year and work on this thing, and maybe it'll work and maybe it won't.' That's more of an inventor."

• Posted by John Battelle at 2:23 PM
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Et Al

Yahoo earnings met expectations. Semel's message, apparently: We're bigger than Google.

There's a brewing controversy in SEM land over Google indexes AdSense URLs. At issue - a sense that Google's organic crawler should stay clear of Google's AdSense crawler. Matt Cutts of Google responds here.

I'm hearing rumors that Google is going to make an integration/mashup play in the Enterprise space. Wait, Paul has the news.

My pal Jonathan Weber gets press at the Yahoo Blog.

Gary finds another interesting patent, this one portends a Yahoo competitor to eBay.

Google's earnings come out Thursday, FYI....

• Posted by John Battelle at 10:57 AM
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Yahoo and China: More Bad News

Boing Boing reports on a third "dissident" jailed with what appears to be help from Yahoo.

• Posted by John Battelle at 10:36 AM
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A Frank Interview With Jim Lanzone

You may recall my interview with Gary Flake, which ran earlier this month. I titled that "A Frank Interview With..." and mentioned that it would be one of a series, and just to show I'm not slacking off, here's the second edition.

This time our victim is Jim Lanzone, Senior Vice President & General Manager of Ask.com. I've known Jim for quite a while, and always appreciated his passion for defending, well, the underdog. Read on to see what I mean.....

Google recently acknowledged that it finds the approach Ask has taken with Zoom at least worthy of a hire. What do you make of that?

I think it makes sense. We've had a lot of success with our product. As you've seen with the tools we've built over the past couple of years, we're still focused on core search and things that help people get what they need faster. Relevant results are like the Model T: a way to get you from point A to point B. But you can do so much more for people. Just as cars evolved beyond a box on wheels, search is evolving beyond "10 blue links." A relevant link was a novel concept back in 2002, but when people are exposed to tools like Zoom, or Smart Answers, they start to expect more.

It's also not just what you have under the hood, but how the product is designed. As you can see, we place our Zoom related suggestions on the right-hand side of the page, where others have ads, because we've found this to be a natural place for people to look to iterate their searches. Iteration is a common user behavior in search, because of the natural tendency of searchers is to start with one term and then whittle their way, gathering clues, to the right keywords. Zoom related search helps them do this instinctively, without learning how to use it. It's in the right place and the right time. It is fundamental to people's search needs, not just an interesting bell or whistle.

When I posted on these topics, a number of folks chimed in saying that Ask isn't nearly as relevant for things like last names or the name of their business. What is your response to them?

When it comes to algorithmic search, we're far better than we've ever been, but we're not as good as we want to be. We're in the middle of some important infrastructure upgrades, so between now and the end of '06, you'll see us steadily strengthen our relevance even further. One place we lag in particular is freshness. That will change. Content management and quality control are things we haven't put as much manpower on yet. That is coming. Mostly our focus has been on algorithms and heuristics, and we believe we have some of the best in the industry. You pointed out some of the benefits of our differentiated ExpertRank (formerly Teoma) ranking methodology, which certainly has a different take on things at times. (For example, try the queries "dc colleges" and "bay area airports".)

With the "Scoble" example, we somehow missed ranking his new page, so the top result wasn't right (Google made the same mistake). On the other hand, for the query "Robert Scoble", we have a Smart Answer at the top of the page with his photo. You pointed out that for "Battelle" we did a better job for the algo results, but we also found you in the Zoom related searches under "John Battelle", and had a Smart Answer for you too. Again, going beyond "10 blue links" is something we are leading the way on. Relevant links are very important, clearly, but we can do more to get you better information, faster.

So, let's talk about "getting beyond the blue links." That's code for "beyond Google," which has been a very important partner for Ask, in terms of business model. Where do things stand on going your own way past your Google AdWords deal? And do you think Ask can ever break out of its role as a small player compared to the giants like Yahoo and Google in terms of search traffic?

Our relationship with Google has never been better. I like so many of those guys on a personal level, and we make a lot of money for each other on a professional level. Our interest in building our own ad system is straightforward. In some cases, we make more money if we sell the ads ourselves. In some cases, advertisers want a direct relationship with us. Over time, our own network will strengthen, but that will take time. It's going very, very well so far. Google gets this and is supportive of our efforts because it makes us a stronger partner for them overall, and helps grow the category overall.

We absolutely compete with Google for users, as we do MSN and Yahoo. In the past we have called this "co-opetiton." I think it's easier to conceptualize this using an analogy. Imagine we're the Fox Network and Google is CBS. Fox tries to create great shows that compete for viewers with CBS, but Fox lets CBS sell its ads for them. If Fox wants to sell some of its own ads, either to try to make more money or because some advertisers want that option, Fox does it themselves. Either way, it's good for CBS because they know network TV traffic isn't a zero-sum game, and Fox isn't going away anytime soon.

In terms of our size, we may be small relative to Google, but I think this needs to be put into perspective in a couple of ways. First, as a business, remember that a 1 point gain in market share for Ask (from 6% to 7% share) is a 15% increase in share of queries. The way our business works, that's also likely a 15% increase in share of revenue. So just one point of share has an incredible impact on our business growth, and I think people forget that because they're comparing us to Google, rather than to our own growth curve. As I said, it's not a zero-sum game.

When it comes to users and traffic, at 6% we may be small relative to GYM, but we're still a top player in the #1 activity online outside of email. We're anything but small. Collectively we operate the 6th largest (just passed Amazon last month) Web property in the world. It's just that you're looking at us relative to the GYM behemoths, who admittedly are a level above us.

To that end, I would love for people to appreciate what we're trying to do in competing against them. We're the underdog here, kind of like Firefox. Google does a good job of presenting themselves as the underdog, and MSN is helping them with the way they act publicly. But to me they are both giants. So back to your original statement, yes, we feel passionately that there is more to search [than] the Google paradigm. Nothing against them, but we are doing some things better, and those who experience it are coming back more often. That is why we've grown market share, and hopefully we can accelerate the curve.

One of the most important page-turners for Yahoo and now Google, as well as Microsoft, is mail. Is Ask Mail on the horizon? And what do you make of all the new features at Google - Fusion, Calendar, Finance, etc.?

We prioritize by impact to searchers. Verticals like Finance make sense, because people are searching for that information on Ask already. (Our Finance Smart Answer was launched 3 years ago. To date we haven't launched a full Finance "channel", but at some point that could make sense.) This is true of almost all informational categories on the Web. Search is the doorway.

Email would be a tangent for us, currently. Ask has been growing through increases in frequency of use, by improving core search and developing unique search tools. Things like the launch of our new Image search in January, which many insiders have called the best in the industry, and our new Maps, which has received great buzz for its feature set, really drive query volume for us. As we move forward, we'll add products that are "first cousins" of search, that help you organize and/or do things with the stuff you've searched for. I don't want to give too much away here. But I can assure you that everything will make sense as an extension of our core reason for being: search.

Thanks, Jim. Will you be open to answering Searchbloggers' questions in the comments once I post this?

Of course!

• Posted by John Battelle at 3:00 PM
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The Keyword Index Is Out: $1.39, On Avg.

Fathom's quarterly index is out, and prices "eased" a bit (3%). Average keyword price is $1.39. From the release:

Following on the Q4 2005 holiday season, the drop in bids was not surprising given the seasonal nature of advertising.

Overall, the average bid has increased 1.4 percent since the September 2004 inception of the KPI when the average bid was $1.37. Although prices often vary dramatically day to day, average bid prices have settled in to a predictable range.

“Search marketing is growing at a robust 25 percent this year, and price stability helps that growth” said Matt McMahon, VP Marketing Services at Fathom.

• Posted by John Battelle at 9:29 AM
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Google, Sony And Da Sponsorship Code

When news of this broke a week or so ago, I thought "Well, it was about time Google started to play ball with the movie folks, the way Yahoo has for years." Sure, it's interesting that Google is finally jumping into the cross promotion pool - this ain't a big Adwords buy, after all - but we all expected this day to come. Then I got a call from Marissa Mayer at Google, on Friday, with promise of an embargoed story. Usually Marissa is calling folks like me when a major new product is launching, like Fusion, or Finance. But this time, it was not a product, it was a promotional alliance between Sony Pictures and Google.

Now, this doesn't strike me as big news, at least, not initially. Sure, Google and Sony are teaming up in a unique way, combining their brands to promote the Da Vinci Code. And sure, it's being done in a particularly "Googley" way - with puzzles and codes and a contest that will ultimately crown a grand prize winner just as the movie is coming out. But....let's consider this for a minute.

This marks Google's first major step into the world of pure co-branded promotion, at least here in the US (we saw the Nike soccer site just a few weeks ago as well, but that was, well, soccer. For movie obsessed Americans, it didn't have quite the same impact, and it didn't have the same profile that this one has, for more on that, keep reading). And while this seems pretty tame - Sony is paying Google for all that traffic, right? - the deal is in fact more complicated. Because Marissa assured me that no money is changing hands here. In other words, Google feels it is getting as much from this as Sony is. Why?

Well, because this is more than just a movie promotion. It's a Google products promotion as well. The puzzles and codes will drive people through Google's products - not just search, but Calendar, Mail, Talk, and - in particular - the personalized homepage. In fact, to even get started, you have to set up a Google account. Mayer told me, in no uncertain terms, that the strategic goals of this promotion for Google was to familiarize folks with Google's services beyond search.

It ain't a branding campaign, but it sure as hell is close. I have to say, among many other things, it's rather clever. The effect is a big box ad for the Da Vinci code on folks' personalized home page, yet it's been invited in via the context, so it doesn't feel intrusive. As for the pay off for Google, I'll write more about that in another post.

Regardless of how clever, however, this is marketing, plain and simple. And, to restate - this ain't your father's AdWords. The times, they are a changin'.

• Posted by John Battelle at 11:58 PM
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Linden on MSFT and Killing Google

He makes the point, made before but which bears repeating, that MSFT can do the most harm by really going after AdSense. Which it has clearly not yet done. In fact, it doesn't even seem on the horizon (AdCenter is, but that's only for MSN...)

• Posted by John Battelle at 2:47 PM
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Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Engine?

Not I, sez Mr. Parsons. An interesting AdAge article. From it:

The Time Warner chief said the two search-engine giants are overturning the old realities of advertising and media and are "very good for the content side of our business because they provide new ways to reach more people with more content."

"I think they present an interesting challenge to the distribution side of our business -- the cable side of our business," he said. "But that challenge is not imminent and I see ways that the two can actually work together to provide consumers with an enhanced set of offerings that can cross-promote each other."

• Posted by John Battelle at 3:51 PM
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Reader Joe Writes...

• Posted by John Battelle at 10:10 AM
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Akismet For MT: Death to Spam

If that headline means anything to you, then rejoice. It's long been known that Akismet, WordPress's remarkable anti-comment spam technology, was the best out there. Moveable Type users (like me) salivated at the thought of having Akismet-like functionality on our sites. The technology works in an AI like fashion, learning from the edges - bloggers like us - what is spam, and what is not. It's elegant, and it scales.

Well, thanks to the folks at Automattic (and a big assist from Scot Hacker, Searchblog's native web jockey), it's now possible to run Akismet as a Moveable Type plugin. Searchblog was among the first to test the Akismet plugin, and it is working beautifully. Sure, you'll see spam on this site from time to time. But as soon as I label it "junk" in my MT backend, it'll never show up again. Yeeehaw!

PS - Akismet tracks spams blocked on its home page. According to those figures, 84 percent of all comments left in the blogosphere are spam. Holy crap.

• Posted by John Battelle at 8:53 AM
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Webmetrics Guru writes...