SEO Forum Watch

Apple’s widely-discussed iPhone has stirred up a lot of hype over the past few weeks. Search engines have been flooded with over 274,000 “iPhone” searches each week since 2007 in anticipation of the iPhone’s release, comScore reported yesterday. That number peaked this week at 1.2 million searches and has steadily climbed throughout June, after Apple launched its iPhone advertising campaign.

“The iPhone launch is likely to be one of the biggest product launches in history, and the activity we’re seeing online clearly reflects widespread consumer interest,” said James Lamberti, senior vice president of search solutions at comScore. “This study also helps underscore the significant role search plays in both online and offline retail, since many of those researching the product online will be lining up at the bricks-and-mortar retailers to purchase their new iPhones.”

The searches, which have generated over 2 million click-thrus to Apple.com, show that consumers are most interested in iPhone prices and release dates.

Additionally, the iPhone has generated some interest on YouTube and popular blog sites, thanks to a GeekSugar video that parodies an old Nintendo 64 commercial. (If you haven’t seen the infamous Nintendo commercial, I definitely recommend watching it first - then the iPhone parody will be even funnier.)

(Thanks to Geek Sugar and Google Blogoscoped)

One week after filing for a mass media patent (as discussed on Webmasterworld) indicating that Google is researching how to bridge search technology with interactive television, the search engine is doing a little shameless self-marketing for its own YouTube channel.

Elliot Schrage and Karen Wicker of Google’s department of Global Communications and Public Affairs posted on the official Google blog this afternoon:

”In short, we’re relying as always on the power of the Internet — in this case, the incredibly easy-to-use publishing platform known as the blog — to help interested folks understand how we work, and what we do. As new resources and media tools come into being, we want to make use of those too.“

This, of course, was used to segue into an advertisement for the Google channel on YouTube. Google often uses its blog as a tool to promote its products and services, so that doesn’t come as a surprise. The point of interest here is that, for the past week, Webmasterworld members have been wondering what to expect from Google’s new mass media patent filing.

Now, as Google delves deeper into the video and television world, it is throwing its own YouTube channel back into the public eye.

Coincidence? I think not.

Macintosh is no longer the only competitor making critical remarks about Windows Vista for the world to see. There’s been a good deal of laughter over at the Cre8asite Forums, where moderator “eKstreme” reported that Google has also been publicly criticizing Microsoft’s Vista platform.

The news previously surfaced in this Breitbart article, which states:

“Internet search leader Google Inc. is trying to convince federal and state authorities that Microsoft Corp.’s Vista operating system is stifling competition as the high-tech heavyweights wrestle for the allegiance of personal computer users.

In a 49-page document filed April 18 with the U.S. Justice Department and state attorneys general, Google alleged that the latest version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system impairs the performance of “desktop search” programs that find data stored on a computer’s hard drive.”

Google’s criticism of its leading competitor is a bit hypocritical, eKstreme points out, because desktop search is nothing new. It also might (or might not) be a mere coincidence that Google filed the legal document just days after Microsoft offered a public outcry encouraging the legal examination of Google’s planned acquisition of DoubleClick’s online advertising service.

Can’t we all just get along?

Brett Tabke of Webmasterworld reported yesterday that Paypal has teamed up with The Find to create a shopping search engine for Paypal’s online stores.

Tabke’s post on Webmasterworld quotes a press release stating that http://paypal.thefind.com will allow consumers to search through online stores and “browse products exclusively from merchants who accept PayPal payments.” Rather than using traditional thumbnails or text links, search results will be displayed as catalog images, similar to the current results on The Find.

The most exciting part for e-Business users - as well as for searchers and consumers who ignore paid advertisements - is that merchants will not have to pay for their items to be listed on the co-branded shopping search engine. Instead, all results will be naturally indexed by the search engine’s “Fatbot” crawler.

Some Webmasterworld members expressed their dissatisfaction with the search results so far; however, the search engine is still in its infancy so it’s hard to say how accurate or widespread its search results will be at this time.

Owners of online stores can submit their website URL’s for inclusion here. There currently doesn’t appear to be a limit on the number of sites each merchant may submit.

What tricks will Google pull out of its magic hat next? According to a recent discussion on Webmasterworld, we might soon be seeing Google expand into the realms of video, television, and social networking in ways that have been previously untouched by search engines.

A U.S. patent application announced by Webmasterworld user “trillianjedi” on June 7th indicates that Google may be trying to close the gap between mass media channels (such as television and broadcasting) and the search industry. After reading the patent, it would appear that Google wants to use search technology to make the interactive television experience… well… more interactive.

In order to experience what the patent refers to as “contemporary interactive television”, viewers often have to pay large monthly fees and purchase additional equipment. Furthermore, there is no easy way for viewers to communicate with each other in real time.

It would appear, with the rise of social networking sites such as Friendster, Facebook, and MySpace, that Google is considering new ways to hop on the social networking bandwagon by merging it with the passive user experience of watching television. Currently, in order to find and participate in a discussion related to a favorite television show, for instance, a viewer must use a search engine to search for the title of the show or a related keyword, and then scroll through the search engine results pages until they find a site that matches their interests. If that’s not complicated enough, they would then most likely have to create an account with a particular social networking site and log in before they would be able to participate in site discussions. Even then, as most forum users are aware, the discussions are usually not “live” and forum replies can take days or even weeks.

While some people are eagerly anticipating what Google has in store, several Webmasterworld members reacted with cynicism and even concern. For instance, beta users of Joost couldn’t help but notice some striking similarities between the Google patent and what Joost is attempting to do with their advertisements. Both companies feature several colors of the rainbow on their websites and in their advertising campaigns. Both companies are trying to find new ways of presenting interactive television. Competition, anyone?

Google will not only be going up against the hype of Joost, but also the long-standing techniques of television companies such as G4TV and MTV, both of which play snippets of related chatroom conversations during popular television shows.

Webmasterworld member “lexipixel” made a valid point by stating:

“I think a lot of technologists miss the point of [television]. Like computers, the human brain can not truly multi-task — it can simulate it well (pat your head, rub your belly…) but time slicing and multi-tasking are two different things. In front of a [television], you are free to think about and process the information being presented. … In these ‘totally connected’ days, I think we look to TV as a relaxation period for the mind…”

Stopping to think about my own television-viewing experiences, I realized that much of what “lexipixel” said does apply to me. When I watch television, I like to become involved in the simple experience of just watching and comprehending what is happening on the screen in front of me. I don’t like for too much to be going on, whether it is outside influence from my own environment or even the brief interruption of commercial advertisements. I don’t have the best attention span sometimes, and I’ll admit that I even get distracted if the channel logo changes in the bottom right corner of the screen. (And don’t get me started on those Showtime ads that pop up during my favorite shows and random moments…)

Do I see television as we know it completely changing or even becoming lost to the visions Google might (or might not) have for the mass media? Not likely. Television might change. The broadcasting world might evolve. But I doubt it will ever become an ad-congested viewing nightmare. After all, there is one thing that mass media relies on more than its advertisements: you and I, the viewers.

I know, I know.. this site’s been up three whole days now and we’ve yet to start watching any forums.

In that time, we HAVE been working diligently on a new design (this template’s got to go!) and trying to fix a few bugs. The contact page still isn’t working quite right, so until we fix that, if you have any suggestions for search engine forums or SEO-related posts that you’d like us to feature, feel free to send them via email.

In the meantime, here are a few hot topics:

Speaking of Image Searches… This goes hand-in-hand with my previous post. Caydel from SEOMoz discusses Using Google Image Search to Drive Traffic to Your Site.

Does Video Search Help Your Marketing? The members of FathomSEO discuss what to do and what to avoid when it comes to video submissions.

Watch out, Firefox users! You may be at risk from some new Google, Yahoo and Facebook extensions, as reported on Webmasterworld.

As recently reported by Google Blogoscoped, Google has added a few new ways to organize its image search results.

Last August, Search Engine Watch reported that Google had purchased Neven Vision, an image recognition company that could potentially change the world of image searches. Up until now, searching for images has relied heavily on text-based elements such as title and alt tags. Now, it appears, Google is working on something that has been speculated and discussed for a long time: finding ways to search images based on what they look like or elements within the images rather than relying on the webmasters’ descriptions of them.

Visually-based image searches could benefit a wide variety of Google users:

”Average Joe” Searchers. By improving the accuracy of its search results, Google Images could become an even more important tool for current users – while peaking the interests of new ones. That means the people who use the internet for entertainment purposes will be able to sleep better at night knowing that their searches for images of cowbells will not be cluttered with pictures of Will Ferrell. Who can argue with that?

Designers. This goes for both graphic and web designers. Visual image search capabilities offer specific hope to designers of Flash websites. Historically, Flash designers have had to get creative when it comes to getting indexed on the search engines, since Flash websites rely heavily on images rather than text. Google has been hinting for years ago that it is interested in moving towards a generation of search in which images are indexed as accurately as words on a page. Google’s new facial recognition appears to be a step in that direction, which should come as welcome news to designers.

Students, journalists and researchers. People who are serious about using the internet and its search engines for educational and business-related means could have greater ease finding what they are looking for. One could imagine the possibilities facial recognition would offer when used in conjunction with Google’s newly-acquired Spock service, which allows searchers to find information on famous (and not-so-famous) people.

This innovative move could take the world of image search in a more accurate direction, although it does bring up some fears. As Stephen Pitts of http://www.seopittfall.com stated in a post on MarketingPilgrim:

“I am happy to announce that Google has not associated my picture with my name, at least not yet! It still is a bit scary (big brother anyone) that Google can associate your face with your name. …”

To get a taste of what Google might have in store, go to Google Images and do a search. At the end of your query, add &imgtype=face (for images of people only) or &imgtype=news (for only news-related images).

Play around. Do a few searches and if you find anything interesting, feel free to share it here!

Search engine giant Google is offering 1mbps free wi-fi internet to neighbors of its headquarters in Mountainview, California. Critics of the internet service are disappointed by the 1mbps speeds and believe Google should offer online tech support to its wi-fi users.

This humble blogger is inclined to agree with search engine marketing expert Andy Beal, who fired back at Google Wi-Fi critics in a recent post on his MarketingPilgrim website:

“For the love of Pete, people. It’s FREE! If you want whistles and bells, pay for it.”

On a side note: I hope offering free wi-fi doesn’t replace the American tradition of giving your neighbors a nice fruit cake as a welcoming gift. If so, I’ll really feel inferior because I never even bother with a fruit cake.

Surprise, surprise. Microsoft is gobbling up the competition yet again. It was recently announced that the Xbox maker has bought up PlayStation manufacturer, Sony, Microsoft’s leading competitor in the gaming industry. In an obvious effort to gain more ground in the search engine industry, Microsoft recently made a grasp for Yahoo!

After some reluctance towards paying the $50 million Yahoo! asking price, Microsoft announced on May 23rd, 2007, that it does not need to buy Yahoo! to gain a stronger foothold in the online advertising industry. According to Microsoft advertising strategist Yusef Mehdi, Microsoft does not need Yahoo! to build its brand or expand its online image.

One might think a former governmentally-declared monopoly would be less eager to buy up the competition in various markets. Then again, Microsoft does have a reputation to withhold…