Google Introduces Custom Search Business Edition

Ever notice a website with its own Google search field? Notice how the terms you enter in that search field don’t search the whole Internet, but just the pages within the website? It’s called Google Custom Search, and it’s a pretty handy product used by thousands of organizations, schools, and even blogs.

Below is a screenshot of Custom Search implemented on the Montclair State University homepage:

The great news is Google just unveiled its Custom Search Business Edition— an enhanced version of Custom Search geared towards small and mid-sized businesses.

Below are the four key features that accompany Custom Search Business Edition (as explained on SearchEngineLand.com):

Customized search results. You can change the look and feel of search results to match the underlying design of a website, using a relatively straightforward XML API provided by Google.

Optional ads. With the free version of Google Custom Search, Google displays ads alongside search results. With the Business Edition, ads in search results are optional.

Dedicated enterprise support. The new service offers both email & phone support,

Optional Google branding. Don't want the Google logo on your search results? You can easily turn it off.

Google’s Custom Search Business Edition has pricing plans which range from $100 per year (for searching up to 5,000 pages) to $500 per year (for searching up to 50,000 pages).

For more info, check out Google’s blog about Custom Search Business Edition.

Guge Gallantly Goes after Google

It’s always an interesting surprise for the Internet community when a no-name (no pun intended) company announces it is suing Google, the #1 worldwide search engine.

A Reuters.com article covering the story indicated that Beijing Guge Science and Technology Ltd. Co (Guge) is “suing Google Inc.'s China subsidiary for copying its name, saying the U.S. search engine's registered Chinese name is too similar to its own and has harmed its operations.”

Guge complained of frequent, misdirected calls from people trying to contact Google, reporting that the problems arise from miscommunications between phone directories and callers. Apparently Guge is tired of dealing with the erroneous traffic and is seeking rectification.

“We just want Google to change their commercial name," stated company official Tian Yunshan.

The article mentioned that this case has “been accepted by a court in Beijing's Haidian district.” Both Google and Guge refused to comment further, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…

Sell more Products Online with Google Product Search

Do you have products to sell and want to get them in Google? If so, then you should submit your products to Google Base. By submitting your products to Google Base, you'll essentially be submitting them to the Google search engine. Once your product feed is approved, your products will appear in areas such as Google Product Search, Google Base and in many cases, the Google search engine itself.

If you're a seller, it costs nothing to reach shoppers by submitting your items to Google Base. You can link directly from the Google search results to your website; if you don't have a website, Google will host your offers for free within your Google Base account.

There are many ways to submit your products to Google Base. Below I've compiled an outline of the top submission methods:

One at a time - Have 10 or fewer products? Fill out the web form for each product you would like to sell and post to Google Product Search.

Bulk Upload - Upload a spreadsheet or XML file describing each product and its associated product data using the Google Base Bulk Upload. When you submit information via the web form, you can attach up to 15 digital files in the following formats: PDF (.pdf), Microsoft Excel (.xls), Text (.txt), HTML (.html), Rich Text Format (.rtf), Word Perfect (.wpd), ASCII, Unicode and XML.

API - Are you a developer? If so, you can code your way from your system to theirs. With the new Google Base data API, you can create specialized applications to handle these actions. Your application can upload new data, update or delete existing items, and execute specialized queries to find matches for complex attribute criteria.

Automated Product Submission - Tired a manually submitting your products online? Tired of creating and submitting your bulk upload product feeds on a regular basis? Want to sell more products online with Google Product Search? Then try the automated product submission and have all your products submitted to Google Base three times a week. The automated process will connect directly to your database, gather all the necessary product data, create your product feed, and submit it directly to your Google Base account three times a week... it's that simple! All you need to do is register your store for automated product submission.

MySpace News is actually Newsworthy

MySpace News is making a big splash in the social networking site scene. The news feature, released in Beta mid April of this year, allows MySpace users to rate each article and so far has received excellent feedback from users and publishers.

At a glance, MySpace News seems like every other news aggregator with user ranking capabilities. But a closer look reveals that MySpace accurately sorts all stories into 25 categories with 300 subcategories, streamlining archives so users can find exactly what they’re looking for. And MySpace has another advantage—its colossal user base… nearly 43 million active account holders means lots of interaction.

TechNewsWorld.com posted a related MySpace News article that included an interview with Sterling Market Intelligence online media analyst Greg Sterling. Sterling agreed that MySpace News has such potential due to its immense popularity: “a smaller competitor… would be greeted with lot of skepticism in a way MySpace isn't because of its position in the marketplace.”

To introduce the news feature to frequent users, MySpace implemented a large colorful banner on its login page. With each page reload, the banner markets a different category (i.e.: fashion, entertainment, music, video games, sports, etc.) and links to the corresponding News page. This is a smart marketing technique because it minimizes the perpetual “boring” connotation of “News” by emphasizing current, popular themes.

As Sterling points out, “Young people are not as interested in the news as older people… There is a potential [with MySpace News] to expose interesting and important news stories to an entirely new audience.”

Giving MySpace users the power to rank articles is another smart approach to get them interested and involved. The same TechNewsWorld.com article described that “the ratings directly affect the ‘placement and prominence’ of the stories, including whether they make the MySpace News homepage.” Give users a voice and they are likely to respond positively.

In addition to benefiting the readers, MySpace News also represents a great avenue for featured bloggers. Featured bloggers can expect adequate exposure due to the site’s popularity and high traffic rank.

For more information, check out these MySpace News FAQs especially if you’re interested in submitting blog articles to MySpace News.

Google buys its protection for $625 million

On Monday, July 9th, Google officially announced that it signed a contract with Postini, the “global leader” of online security. In a press release concerning the matter, Google declared for the sum of $625 million, it will have control of Postini as a “wholly-owned subsidiary” and that the deal is “expected to close by the end of the third quarter 2007.”

Google Applications such as “Gmail, Calendar, Talk, Docs & Spreadsheets, and Personal Start Page” have become very popular among small businesses; Google provided a statistic indicating that nearly 1,000 small businesses register with these applications each day.

Google maintains that large businesses will likely be impressed with this acquisition because it will allow them to benefit from the innovative applications of Google and the assured security of Postini. The press release stated that among its many security features, “Postini solutions include Email Security, IM Security, Web Security, Message Archiving, Message Encryption, and Policy-enforced TLS.”

President and CEO of Postini, Quentin Gallivan, has described the deal as “an exciting milestone,” and Google appears to agree. As far as I’m concerned, this is another huge step forward for Google, leaving other search engines and Internet application providers in the dust.

Hudson Horizons Offers New Affordable Website Content Management System Conversion

Fair Lawn, NJ (PRWeb) July 10th, 2007 – Local web development company provides professional Content Management System conversion at an affordable price.

Hudson Horizons is offering clients a website Content Management System (CMS) conversion, which can significantly streamline any site and enhance the overall experience of operating businesses online.

Because the CMS conversion will be made available at such a reasonable price, smaller companies can expect an immediate Return on Investment (ROI) while defining and expanding their role in the world of online commerce.

President and CEO of Hudson Horizons Daryl H. Bryant states, “Until now, it has never been possible for a small business to integrate an advanced CMS solution for such an affordable price. Our CMS technology is the perfect solution for any small to mid-sized business because it combines top quality service with realistic prices.

“Without a Content Management System, altering content, images or links on a website can be extremely time-consuming,” explains Bryant. “After we implement our CMS, our clients retain full control over their website and can easily manage all of the content and other advanced features through back-end administrative access.”

This unique CMS solution includes a free Meta Tag Tool that allows administrators to update individual titles, keywords, and descriptions for each page of their website without complex HTLM coding. Based on the keywords clients choose, this Content Management System generates search-engine-friendly URLs which reflect the content on each particular page. “Relevant URLs are well-received by search engines, accurately indexed and help increase a website's ranking,” states VP of technologies Matt Mayernik.

“The Hudson Horizons CMS solution is completely customizable,” Bryant adds, “and can be altered to satisfy each of our clients’ specific e-Business needs.”

But the services of Hudson Horizons extend far beyond the initial CMS conversion. “Unlike other web development companies,” Mayernik explains, “Hudson Horizons can help organize your business online after the site has been converted. Our team of experts will prepare and provide different ways to build and market your site based on your company budget and objectives.”

Conveniences of a Hudson Horizons CMS include world-wide 24/7 accessibility from any location with an Internet connection and unlimited 24/7 technical support. “The priceless advantage of our CMS conversion,” Bryant states, “is obtaining a professional, streamlined website, which can help increase traffic, rank, and sales for any e-Business.”

About Hudson Horizons

Hudson Horizons www.hudsonhorizons.com is an e-Business product, solution and marketing company specializing in creating highly sophisticated customized websites, Content Management Systems and providing e-Marketing services for small and mid-sized businesses.

A main focus of the Hudson Horizons team is to develop technologies that are commonly referred in today's Internet standards as Web 2.0 technology. Such examples include: blogs/weblogs, content management, RSS feeds, social networking, social bookmarking and social web-based tools.

Their vision and ultimate ambition as a company is to always strive to be "The New Light for e-Business."

By offering new, innovative and extremely competitive products and solutions to their clients, they provide better ways to run and operate a business online.

Contact:

Daryl H. Bryant
Hudson Horizons
The New Light for e-Business
1-888-DMS-4WEB (367-4932)
info@hudsonhorizons.com
www.hudsonhorizons.com

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Sports Court subpoenas Google for AdWords records

In what is being referred to as a “trademark infringement lawsuit,” two competing companies are about to change the face of advertisement confidentiality on the Internet.

According to Eric Gordon’s post on the matter, “the plaintiff Sport Court (now Conner Sport Court International) claimed that Rhino Sports had breached an injunction by buying the keyword phrase ‘sport court,’ when it fact Rhino Sports apparently had just broad-matched the word ‘court.’”

Unconvinced, Sport Court has officially subpoenaed Google asking it to release all AdWords records pertaining to the term “sport court.” Thanks to Gordon, we have a list of the specific material included in the subpoena:

* all purchases of "sport court" as a keyword
* the associated "cost per click calculations"
* estimated ad positions for the keyword
* search volume trends for the keyword

To ensure compliance, all AdWords clients who utilize these terms have been contacted via e-mail; the AdWords data will be released pending no official objections.

It’s obvious that if released, this data would have “significant competitive value.” Many responses in the Internet community, including my own, have been those of cautious apprehension. If this motion is passed, it stands to set a risky president for future companies looking to get ahead in the world of online advertising.

Click here for more coverage.

Mark your calendars for Google-Free Friday

Today marks the first installment of the Google-Free Fridays SearchEngineLand.com is hosting throughout the month of July. In an attempt to dispel the Google hype, SearchEngineLand.com is recommending browsers abstain from using Google each Friday of this month and instead make use of the other search engines on the Internet.

In his article, Editor-in-Chief Danny Sullivan explains, “The point [of Google-Free Friday] is to encourage people to open their eyes to some of the other major search engines, whether it to be to discover something great and new or to reassure [them] that Google's the right choice.”

Today, SearchEngineLand.com has selected AOL.com as the alternative search engine. Sullivan states that this “is your chance to get a feel of how AOL compares by using a search service there that corresponds to one you might regularly use at Google.”

Personally, I think Google-Free Friday is a smart idea. I think we instinctively turn to Google as the be-all-end-all of search engines. I know I do. Before I read this article, I already used Google to search for five different things this morning. Google-Free Fridays may be the perfect opportunity to start using alternative search engines to see what they have to offer.

Let the competition begin

The iPhone has been on the market about five days, so a rival product must be in the making, right? Right! This Yahoo! News article indicated that LG has signed an agreement with YouTube to develop a new mobile phone. The device will, among other things, “enable users to upload, view and share video clips or user-created content (UCC) online freely without using computers.”

Uh-oh. The iPhone can’t do that.

This partnership is sure to benefit LG, the world’s fifth-largest mobile phone manufacturer, and its relationship with undisputed #1 search engine, Google. Last month in Europe, LG released a line of mobile “Google phones” which offer “one-click access to Google's search engine as well as Google maps and Gmail.” YouTube, the world’s biggest video-sharing website, was acquired by Google last year for 1.65 billion dollars.

While it’s still far too early for a release date, the LG / YouTube phone certainly represents the first of many iPhone competitors that are sure to follow.

Say hello to Yahoo! SmartAds

Yesterday, Yahoo! launched their SmartAds application which, according to a SearchEngineLand.com source, will “deliver display ads to people across the web based on their demographic and geographic profiles, plus search and web browsing behaviors.”

This new form of web advertising, which apparently received positive feedback in its test stage, is expected to expand to reach all areas of the Yahoo! network pending continued success.

SmartAds appears to have a lot of potential in the advertising community; the application will allow advertisers to contact browsers based on demographic, location, or web behavior— or advertisers can mix all three elements until they target the ideal audience.

What makes SmartAds so revolutionary is the “creative assembly platform” which will “take "templates" of advertiser-generated creative (e.g., copy, logos, graphics) and assemble those elements dynamically depending on the targeting opportunity.”

You may be thinking, “Gee, presenting relevant ads is great, but tracking my “web browsing behavior” sounds a little Big Brother-esque.” At least that was my first impression. But Yahoo! representatives assure that “users are grouped into categories and subcategories… not individually targeted.”

So there you have it—Yahoo! SmartAds are taking us into the future of interactive advertising on the web. My guess is it’s only a matter of time before other search engines (*cough* Google) take up a spot in the competition.

For more coverage, click here.