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Microsoft on Thursday revealed their new search engine: Bing (the rebranded and rebuilt search engine formerly codenamed Kumo, designed to replace Live Search). It’s a solid improvement over the previous search product, and it beats Google in important areas. It will help Microsoft gain share in the search business. It’s surprisingly competitive with Google.

Bing isn’t available to the public yet, but you won’t have to wait long. Starting on June 1, some users will get Bing search results from Live Search. On June 3 Bing will be Microsoft’s new default search. We got early access to the service. Here’s is some first takes on how it looks:

• In search presentation, Bing wins. It uses technology from Powerset (a search technology company Microsoft acquired) to display refined versions of your query down the left side of the page. For example, searching for the game “Fallout 3″ on Google and Bing. While Google gave good results, Bing gave a menu of “related searches,” that included Walkthrough, News, and so on. Bing also pop ups an excerpt of the text on a search result if you hover over it. This saves a lot of time if you’re not quite sure if you want to follow a result.

• In the content of search results, Bing is not consistently superior to Google. In many searches Rafe Neddlemann (Cnet) and Greg Sterling (Searchengineland) did, the Google results were more relevant and useful. Not by miles, mind you, but in many cases Google delivered the goods just enough better than Bing to make me question the wisdom of adopting Bing as a replacement search engine. Just one example: Searching for “Best house paint for humid climates” gave me better advice links at the top of the search results with Google than with Bing.

• When searching for product reviews, Google’s search result pages were mostly better than Bing’s — although, again, not by a lot. However, Bing also collates user and expert reviews on many products, and this gives you a great overview. This feature doesn’t always show up, though; and I wouldn’t even have known about it had it not been for the Wired review of Bing.

• When you want to shop for an item, both services have very strong “shopping” tabs that organize results well. Google gives you seller ratings, which Bing doesn’t. But Bing offers a cashback program, which is hard to beat.

• And in some searches, Bing won on results outright. When searching for “Facebook sandberg” on Google, the top link was a story from 2008. On Bing, the top item was “News about facebook sandberg” with three sublinks to very recent articles. When searching for “Obama Supreme Court,” Google did show news results, but the top link was a day-old story. Bing’s was from 32 minutes ago. (To be fair to Google, you can also click through to Google News on any result and sort results by date. But that’s extra clicks. Bing is more aggressive about including news.)

• All search engines have their strengths, and many of Bing’s lie in areas where Microsoft has its own content companies. For example, Microsoft owns the airfare prediction service Farecast, and it includes Farecast buying advice whenever you search for airplane travel. Bing also displays some medical data inside the search engine itself.

• Bing also does very well in at least one area where Google should do better. The video search result page for “Thomas Jefferson” in Google gives you a vertical list of videos. On Bing, you get a big grid that’s easier to scan, and a list of related videos on the left for “George Washington,” “James Madison,” and so on. The search results are about equivalent, but Bing’s presentation is far superior.

• For further search examples and comparision have a look at: searchengineland.com and Cnet.com

Summing it up: The new game in search is parsing information and displaying it in the engine itself (see Wolfram Alpha for the extreme example of this). Both Google and Bing, and other search products, have areas where they will collate and format information for you, instead of just linking you to external pages where the data reside. Bing does an extremely good job at this in several popular areas — like product reviews, movie listings, weather, travel, and stock prices.

While the service doesn’t reveal all its riches at once, it rewards exploration and yields pleasant surprises to users who poke around. Google keeps improving in the area of in-search collation and display as well, but Bing makes Google look complacent, and that’s not good for Google. For the moment, Bing’s on top in this game.

Microsoft is also set to launch a campaign for Bing. The campaign is expected to be an $80 million to $100 million effort. Those numbers are astronomical when considering Google itself only spent around $25 million in advertising all last year. But Microsoft’s current share of the search engine pie is relatively small. So they are going to have to make a big splash to make any sort of headway against Google and Yahoo, who dominate that vast majority of internet searches…

Go check out Bing here: http://www.bing.com (or at least some information about it ) and check out this video explaining how it works:

Sources: techcrunch.com, Cnet.com, Bizzia.com and searchengineland.com

Reffering to my previous post about Wolfram Alpha one of my colleagues send me this link today: http://www.psfk.com/2009/05/paid-search-has-to-work-harder-now.html 

From the article you can see that paid search traffic has witnessed a decrease… In the article, Fulconi says that though search queries are up 68% over the last couple of years, the growth rate of the number of paid clicks is at just 18%. His hypothesis is that this is because people are using longer search terms, rendering the likelihood of an advertiser bidding to have his or her search results included in the results page less, due to paid advertising strategies that limit ad coverage. 

In short, queries are getting closer to real conversation, real natural language, and Google’s algorithms are having a harder time keeping up – matching advertiser demand to our increasingly complex queries.

Springwise has just send out their weekly newsletters and I found these two newsarticles interesting – thus sharing them here:

White label platform helps anyone build a gaming site

Much the way Magnify helps web publishers create niche video channels, Danish Nonoba enables anyone to create a branded gaming site that’s customisable with more than 4,000 games and can be translated into 26 different languages.

Nonoba’s first offering was an independent site where gamers can play both single- and multiplayer games for free. Nonoba Gamerise, however, is a fully functional, white-label content management system that lets anyone create a Flash gaming site of their own complete with all of Nonoba’s community features but entirely customisable in look, feel and targeting. Sites built using Gamerise can be run on any domain; hosting and operations are managed by Nonoba, leaving the partner free to focus on content and monetization. Available features include a catalogue of more than 4,000 games; messaging, forums, chat and friend lists; and news feeds based on friend activity. Visual design and branding can be modified for both the site and any emails sent from it, while all phrases and texts presented to the user can be rewritten or translated into up to 26 different languages, including Chinese, Hebrew and Indonesian. Features are also available to enable site owners to control advertising.

More than 100 partners have signed up since the launch of Gamerise in March, including game portals in the Netherlands, China, Belgium, Portugal and Slovenia. By providing an easy-to-use platform for such developers, Gamerise is much like “Ning for gaming sites,” as Nonoba cofounder Oliver Pedersen explains. One to try out, partner with, or otherwise get involved in…?
Website: www.nonoba.com/developers

Hotel finder distills reviews from across the web

Good hotels can be hard to find, but not for lack of candid advice. The sheer number and dispersed nature of reviews on the web are what can make the process difficult, and that’s where Raveable comes in. Zeroing in more narrowly than the likes of TripAdvisor, Raveable aims to provide a comprehensive view of hotels across the United States by aggregating and summarizing millions of reviews from sites far and wide.

Drawing from more than 35 million reviews of some 55,000 US hotels, Raveable analyzes and condenses such opinions into rankings for hotels nationwide. The company begins by collecting basic information from the hotels themselves. It then gathers travel reviews from all over the internet, including well-known sites like TripAdvisor, Expedia and Travelocity as well as lesser-known contenders such as individual travel blogs. Taking into account factors including the quality of the originating site, the date of the review and the reputation of the original author, Raveable then creates colour-coded rankings for each hotel using a weighted combination of all the factors it considers. Room quality, service, value and the extent to which patrons would recommend a hotel all get individual rankings, while overall rankings compare the hotel with those in the same price range as well as all others in that city. Finally, going beyond numbers, Raveable’s patent-pending technology uses semantic analysis to analyze and distill reviewers’ comments about each hotel, summarizing the good and the bad about its rooms, location, service and overall. Free for users, Raveable earns revenue each time a visitor books a hotel through one of its booking partners.

Indeed, it’s the smart hotels that are turning transparency tyranny into transparency triumph by welcoming the spotlight when it shines on them and using it to grow, to improve, and to win new customers. Then there are the facilitators like Raveable, which stand to earn a pretty penny making it all happen.

Website: www.raveable.com

Twitter is all over the place these days… Found this really great example of online marketing in the entertainment sector – the twitter based Resistance2018 game. The premise is convoluted but it would seem that the “Resistance” is using Twitter to communicate, you can join the resistance and help by decrypting message which have been intercepted from Skynet. 

The game instructions and all the assets surrounding the Twitter game are housed on a blog - everything is easily embeddable, shareable and searchable.

The number of people signed up so far aren’t exactly earth-shattering, but those that are involved seem totally engaged and will act as unpaid ambassadors across Twitter and their wider social circle.

Also I had to share this – a really fun chart showing the career evalution of people working at creatives agencies…  

Source: adverblog.com

To take all of the world’s data and make it immediately computable: an incredibly bold and ambitious goal for a software program. But this is exactly what Wolfram Alpha plans on doing.

The system, invented by scientist Stephen Wolfram, aims to compute answers to specific questions. In doing so it wants to create a system which does for quantifiable information and data what search engines have done for qualitative, or ‘informal’ knowledge, such as texts and documents. All a user needs to do is ask the program a question in everyday language, such as “what’s the GDP of France?” or “how many internet users are there in Europe?” The data is then represented in precise visual formats.

Comparing it to an existing search engine such as Google, which retrieves documents based on keyword searches, Wolfram Alpha aims to act smarter by actually thinking for the user. It claims it can understand the question and will then compute the answer.

Just how the system works based on its in-built models of knowledge fields remains unclear, and whether it will actually launch to any success remains to be seen, but on the surface – and if possible – this would be a hugely significant breakthrough.

Saw this new resarch from IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) the other day - The research by the  suggests that online consumers are more receptive to digital advertising after 6pm across all age groups, and that they prefer ads whilst shopping and researching. Have a look at the key findings from the report here: http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/receptivityoftheonlineaudience190209.mxs

Also found this nice system called Bannerflow – it’s for anyone who concepts, designs or builds banner ads. You can customize it with your company’s logo and colors. It furthermore eliminates the need to build custom display pages every time you make banner ads. You’ll be uploading banners for client review almost instantaneously. Check it out at: http://www.bannerflow.com/

Cool stuff, similar to the Nintendo Wii execution done in YouTube a while back, this one is from China Mobile: http://minisite.youku.com/chinamobileg3/

CNET published this list of 12 online applicatons that track your site or blog’s traffic. Some are better than others, but they’re all designed with the same goal in mind: helping you grow your site/blog.

Clickdensity

Clickdensity not only tracks the number of page views and unique visitors to your site, it overlays a “heat map” on your page that tells you where visitors are clicking. It’s a helpful tool. You can see if the way you place content on your site is helping you increase traffic. And it will give you insight into where to place page elements. Pricing starts at $5 per month. If you want to improve your site’s design, try Clickdensity.

Clicky

Don’t let its childish name fool you; Clicky is outstanding. You’ll find charts and graphs, but one of its best features is its visitor detail, which gives you accurate information on individual visitors in real time. It tells you which country they’re from and how long they’ve been on your site. Clicky also has a mobile page designed specifically for the iPhone. It boasts all the same features as Clicky’s online version. Plus, it’s snappy, so you won’t waste time checking traffic. Pricing starts at $29.99 per year.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free service that provides you with a graph showing how many people visited your site. The tool also lets you see which pages visitors clicked, how many unique visitors went to your site, and information on where the most people entered and exited. It’s not nearly as advanced as other apps in this roundup, but it’s certainly the easiest to use. If you want something simple and accurate, Google Analytics is for you.

Histats.com

Histats.com sports the slickest design of any tool in this roundup. You’ll find common tracking elements like page views, visitors, and referral information, but that’s all displayed in the most user-friendly design I’ve seen in this space. The graphs are gorgeous. The app’s ease of use is unparalleled, thanks to slick menus. And changing the data you want to look at is simple. I was really impressed by Histats (and its free price tag).

Mochibot

If you operate a Flash site, or you want to see how many people are clicking on your Flash content, Mochibot is a must-have. The app works with games, Flash video, and Flash applications. Its reports are simple–they provide only view information and graphs–but they’re highly useful, if you want to see how many people are viewing your content. So far, the service is free, but paid features will be coming shortly.

Opentracker

Opentracker is ugly. There’s no doubt about it. And its menu system makes it too hard to maneuver around the online console. But if you want to see where your traffic is coming in and exactly what individual users are doing, this app is for you. It does the basics, such as tracking total visits and unique visitors, but it’s that individual tracking that sets this app apart. You can view the person’s click stream, see how long he’s been on the site, and find out which country he visiting from. It costs $19.95 per month. Unless you care about individual visitors, Opentracker isn’t worth it.

Pagealizer

Pagealizer goes beyond simple analytics. The service not only tracks page views and visitors, but it helps you increase traffic. Its page design suggestions and landing-page optimization tips are outstanding. Using data like the visitors’ length of time on the site, as well as how far they scrolled down the page, the tool finds ways for you to improve your site. It told me that for my blog, I need to change the location of some page elements to increase click-through rates. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of Pagealizer’s advice. For a starting price of just $9.99 per month, it’s worth trying out. I think you’ll learn quite a bit.

ShinyStat

Like many of the other apps in this roundup, ShinyStat comes in free and premium versions. Its free service provides all the basics, such as page views, graphs, and unique visitors. But its most useful feature is its “forecast” function, which estimates how your site will do today. It constantly changes that forecast as more people filter in.

ShinyStat Pro provides far more information. You can see detailed graphs showing real-time data. Its referrers’ chart tells you where your visitors are originating from. And its geolocation chart tells you where most of your audience lives. You can even track how well your advertising campaigns are working. Pricing is based on the number of page views your site generates. ShinyStat is a great resource. I highly recommend it.

StatCounter

StatCounter is free, so you won’t find much advanced help like you will in paid apps. But what it lacks in advanced features, it makes up for in customization. For any metric, the site lets you choose the time span of data you want to view. You can also decide which information should be included in the graph, how it’s displayed (area or bar graph), and much more. You can create a fully customized chart to get minute detail on any traffic figure impacting your site. And since it’s free, StatCounter is definitely worth trying out.

VisiStat

Although it’s costly (pricing starts at $29.95 per month), VisiStat is an outstanding traffic-tracking service. It’s built for the person who has little to no tech know-how, so it’s easy to use. Its reports capture real-time traffic data, but instead of bogging you down in complicated analytic talk, it displays your unique visitors and page views in a graphical style that’s easy to comprehend. The tool also has ad tracking so you can see how your campaigns are performing. It’s a neat tool that’s worth trying out. But it would be nice if it were a little cheaper.

WebStats

WebStats comes in two versions: Basic and Pro. Its Basic version is free. It provides daily page views, unique visitors, and graphs to visually display how your site has performed. But the company’s Pro version is far more powerful. You can view traffic flowing in from search engines and see who the best referrers to your site are. You can even follow your advertising campaigns. Even better, it’s relatively affordable–the company’s Pro version only costs $9.95 per month. Definitely check it out. I liked it a lot.

Yahoo Web Analytics

I was generally impressed by Yahoo Web Analytics. I especially liked the app’s visitor demographics, which should help you increase advertising effectiveness. Yahoo Web Analytics gives you information on age and gender–two key factors involved in creating an effective marketing campaign. You can even consult its behavioral charts, which fill you in on what your visitors are doing whenever they enter your page. You’ll be amazed by all the data Yahoo Web Analytics provides. You should definitely check it out. Plus, it’s free!

Source: Don Reisinger/CNET

A Lancome advertisement sporting an e-paper display was recently spotted in a Tokyo train. The display technology looks very similar to E Ink’s Ink In Motion. It seems the Japanese are embracing e-paper signage for advertising faster than anyone else. We will see more of this in the coming months. In addition to POP signage, e-paper is perfect for infrequently updated displays, such as train timetables, cinema listings and restaurant menus.

Source: http://www.epapercentral.com/

An update on how some of the big digital players are doing in Asia:

Searches on Yahoo! sites grew 13% year-over-year in January in Japan. Google sites, including YouTube grew just 5%, however the comScore data does not count mobile searches, which is big in Japan. So who said that Yahoo! was down and out? Yahoo! may find themselves behind the ball game in N.America and Europe, but in APAC, it’s an entirely different ball game. Similar to Japan, Yahoo! finds themselves as the top search engine in Hong Kong and Taiwan. We’ve also seen local players take strong footholds of being number 1. – for example, Baidu in China and Naver in South Korea.

Talking about China – in this massively growing internet market, international giants like Google and Facebook are having trouble making gains with the 300 million Chinese online users.  While these companies struggle to conquer market share in China and to create viable business models everywhere, their Chinese clones have built lucrative cash machines literally earning billions of dollars a year relying more on micropayments. Unfortunately, adopting Chinese methods may not help American social networks due both to cultural differences in Chinese user behavior and industry practices. Social networking has increased rapidly in the last year across the world. China is a case in point. China’s leading SNS are local players that are driven by users engaged heavily in applications, which is very different from the US. Whereby branded pages work well in one market, they may not have as great an impact in another.

So understanding cultural norms and market differences will directly affect how advertisers engage with the audience. Marketers should review the best mix of top and secondary sites and search engines to fully intercept the audience.

Source: UM newsletter May

Springwise send out their weekly newsletter, two things in there got my attention, so thought I would share:

Users choose ads for their social web pages

Earlier this month, we wrote about Everyday Models, the company that lets consumers rent out various aspects of their lives for advertising purposes. Zeroing in more narrowly on the online profile is Bomeiti, a service from Catalist Group that lets social media users choose the ads that appear on their pages—and then earn rewards for their selections.
Through partnerships with social media providers, Bomeiti gives users of social networks and other such sites the ability to customize the online advertising that gets served on their personal pages. Users begin by specifying their preferences and interests; advertisers and agencies, meanwhile, specify the corresponding characteristics of the consumers they’d like to target with their ads. Bomeiti then matches ads to user tastes and displays the relevant ads on the appropriate users’ pages. Users are rewarded with points for the ads that are shown on their pages and can donate those rewards to the social causes of their choice. Bomeiti’s service provider partners are currently all Chinese, and include Cityne, Mipang, ShanghaiNing, Yobo and Neocha.

As with the ad-sponsored snailmail provider we featured this week, there are benefits to advertisers in letting users select the ads that their friends will see. With more control for social media users and better targeting for advertisers and service providers, Bomeiti offers a potential new model for advertising in the world of social media. Only time will tell if it will take hold; in the meantime, one to watch! (Related: Paying consumers for promoting products they love.)

Website: www.bomeiti.com

Free coffee for Iphone users at 7-Eleven

An iPhone application developed for 7-Eleven Sweden combines a store locator with coupons for a free coffee and biscotti. After downloading the app, users plug in their phone number and receive a unique coupon code on their iPhone. To claim their coffee, they just show the code to a 7-Eleven clerk; no purchase necessary. The coupon is only valid once, and free coffee in April will be followed by free ice cream in May.
The application, developed by Stockholm-based digital agency Lonely Duck, was downloaded 2,500 times in the week it launched—a considerable number given the size of the Swedish iPhone community, and enough to place it in the top 10 of free app downloads.

7-Eleven hasn’t launched the app in other markets yet, but it’s a smart example for other iPhone-loving retailers to follow: don’t just help (a relatively affluent group of) consumers find your store, but give them a good reason to visit and spend money while they take you up on your generous offer.

Website: www.7-eleven.se

Source: http://springwise.com/weekly/2009-04-29.htm