February is always a weird month for search data.
It’s a short month. Query volume is always down. And this year was particularly odd with all the snowstorms. Were people on the Internet more or less as a result?
An interesting note in comScore’s rankings for last month is that Facebook search query was actually UP. So, there’s one thing people like to do when it snows. (I think we all knew that already by the sheer number of snow pictures uploaded by people in our network.)
Experian Hitwise today announced that Bing’s share of searches has increased for the third straight month.
Image by SESConferenceSeries via Flickr
In other news, Google accounted for 71 percent of all U.S. searches conducted in the four weeks ending Feb. 27, 2010. Yahoo! Search accounted for 15 percent. Bing accounted for 10 percent. And Ask.com received 3 percent. The remaining 73 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for less than 2 percent of U.S. searches.
Although marketers probably don’t need to change anything that they are currently doing because of the trends above, Hitwise reported another trend that may require some adjustments.
Personalized search suggestions now available from historical search clues.
Bing has made an update to its query suggestion feature that incorporates a bit of personalization. Since many web users tend to return to similar search topics, it makes sense to incorporate relevant terms into query suggestions. And that’s just what Bing has done with its Autosuggest feature. It will now take query history into consideration when serving up suggested keywords.
Suggestions based on query history are in purple, similar to a visited link. The other suggestions are in blue, similar to an unvisited link.
Phones are due out by the 2010 holiday season.
It’s called the Windows Phone 7 series and, despite the name, it’s nothing like Windows. Sure, there’s mobile versions of Office, Outlook and Internet Explorer. But if Windows was more like this phone, it wouldn’t have image and reputation problems.
No, this phone is more like Zune HD, which is smooth and sleek. There’s room for games and music and video. There’s also XBox Live integration – you can tinker with your avatar on your phone. Plus, you can update social networks like Facebook directly from your phone. No need to wait for apps to be developed (with apologies to my husband, an iPhone app developer).
Improved imagery for Haiti and Vancouver included.
This month Bing is adding a ton of imagery to its Maps. Much of the new stuff helps users virtually explore the world – specifically Europe and Africa – with Australia, Canada and the U.S. thrown in for good measure.
Also, timely releases for Haiti and Vancouver are included in the release. Here’s what’s new:
Bird’s Eye
- Italy – 5,547 sq. km.
- Netherlands – 554 sq. km.
- Romania – 1,414 sq. km.
- Spain – 512 sq. km.
- Sweden – 1,174 sq. km.
Bing is well on its way in providing street-level imagery on its maps product. Now, they’re incorporating Flickr photos through a new Bing Maps application called Streetside Photos. The photos are associated with their location and laid on top of existing Streetside imagery.
Photos are given attribution, but if you find a photo that shouldn’t be included in the app – or find yours and don’t want it there – you can click the “Report” button to have the image removed.
According to Experian Hitwise data released today, searches on Bing increased 5 percent and search on Ask increased 4 percent in January 2010, while searches on Google decreased 1 percent and searches on Yahoo! decreased 2 percent.
Image by SESConferenceSeries via Flickr
In terms of market share, Google accounted for 71.5 percent of all U.S. searches conducted in the four weeks ending Jan. 31, 2010. Yahoo! Search, Bing and Ask.com received 14.6 percent, 9.4 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively. The remaining 65 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.9 percent of U.S. searches.
Only 2 out of 300 events will stream live on the Internet.
It’s no secret that people are increasingly multi-tasking their entertainment, firing up the laptop to access the Internet while watching TV. This is not lost on search engines and who would very much like your split attention to be spent with them.
Bing and Google in particular are going head to head when it comes to mapping Vancouver and nearby Whistler, where many events will be held. Both Bing and Google have already announced enhanced mapping elements for both cities. Now, Google stepped it up a notch by grabbing “Street View” images of ski slopes via snowmobile.
Instant Answers and Visual Search galleries are given the winter games treatment.
Microsoft is an official partner of NBC for the Olympics. With that, Bing is offering up new search features to make it super-easy for you to find Winter Olympics-related info. The 2010 winter games begin this Friday in Vancouver!
One of Bing’s best features is its Instant Answers. They’re harnessing the power of this awesome feature for the Winter Olympics.
Here’s what you get when you search simply for “winter olympics.”
Search for an athlete, such as snowboarder Kelly Clark, for more Instant Answers:
Get ready for the “Bring Back the Old Facebook” groups.
There’s a flurry of changes going on at Facebook and they should be quite noticeable to even the most casual observer.
First of all, Facebook has changed their navigation. Again. Yes, it’s like changing your underwear. Assuming that you change your underwear regularly.
The new navigation updates are rolling out, so you may not have them yet – but you’ll get them soon. It basically involves a new, comprehensive dashboard along the left sidebar. Plus, notifications are easily accessed across a new top bar. Here are screenshots per the Facebook blog:
