Wikia and Jimmy Wales shutter Wikia Search
Can search be crowdsourced? It's a question that Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, set out to answer when his for-profit company Wikia launched Wikia Search.
Wikia Search, which we reviewed here on the Econsultancy blog when it launched, tried to give users the ability to edit search results in much the same fashion that users can edit pages on Wikipedia.
Sears introduces multi-search function
Sears, one of the largest e-tailers in the US, has just relaunched the websites for two of its online brands, Kmart.com and Sears.com, and has introduced an interesting new multi-search feature.
This means that shoppers at either of the relaunched websites can search on one site and receive product results across both of them. Sears has also added tabs at the top of each page that allow users to quickly access any of the company's six e-commerce sites.
Search report shows obsession with behavioral targeting
The official version of the SEMPO report was released today and it shows search engines have advertisers right where they want them. It shows "overwhelming interest" in newly developed behavioral targeting opportunities, with three-quarters of advertisers claiming they would pay bid more for clicks targeted to in-market consumers.
The Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization "The State of Search Engine Marketing 2008" shows behavioral targeting has moved demographic targeting down on the priority list. In previous years SEMPO respondents showed a stronger interest in demographic targeting, but this year, advertisers on average would pay 10 percent more for both demographic targeting and daypart targeting; they would pay 13 percent more for behavioral targeting. Behavioral-based search retargeting was unchanged in terms of spending. Two in five advertisers said they are not currently targeting or retargeting searchers but plan to in the next 12 months, while another third (34 percent) said they are not currently targeting or retargeting searchers and have no plans to do so in the next year. Another 44 percent said they were targeting searchers either through an ad network, a portal or consumers who had previously visited their site.
Fail whale: Twitter as a search engine
Is Twitter a search engine? It's a question a lot of people are asking, myself included.
I signed up for Twitter at the beginning of the year and even though I'm not a hardcore user and only have a modest 'following' of around 225 people, I do like the service. I've found it to be very useful in staying on top of industry trends and seeing what interesting people are talking about.
Is Twitter a search engine?
What is Twitter? "A microblogging service" doesn't quite fit right. Maybe because that just doesn't sound as cool as Twitter.
A growing number of people are suggesting that Twitter is a search engine. As I was going through my feeds today, I came across several posts discussing just that. This is officially a meme.
Amazon bows SMS shopping
262966 spells A-M-A-Z-O-N on your dialpad. It's the shortcode for TextBuyIt, the online retailer's new SMS shopping system.
Just type what you want - iPod Nano, for example, text it to that number and numbered search results appear on your handheld device's screen. Respond with the number of the item you want, respond to the prompt for your email address and postal code, and you'll get a call from Amazon to complete your purchase.
It's all so instantaneous, except for the waiting for it to arrive in the mail part.
Site review: Nowfly.co.uk
Flights search engine Nowfly.co.uk launched this week, offering fast and accurate results from a wide range of flight operators.
There are already plenty of travel comparison sites out there; I have looked at both Travel.co.uk and Skyscanner in the last six months, so how does Nowfly compare?
Site search used by 5% of visitors - study
While a relatively small number of visitors are using the search function on websites, conversion rates through site search are up to 50% higher than the average.
This is the verdict of a Screen Pages study into 39 of its clients' websites, using Google Analytics data. The stats cover almost 3m site visits over a three month period.
Site review: FT.com revamp
The Financial Times began rolling out changes to its website earlier this week, with a new look and very pink homepage being the first major update.
This is the first stage of an ongoing redesign process and so far it looks like a big improvement. I've taken a closer look at the changes...
How can publishers can improve site search?
I spend a lot of time on newspaper and other publishers' sites, and am often amazed at how bad their site search functions can be.
A lot of sites have been redesigned over the past year or so, and have improved a lot, but their search functions can still be patchy.
Here are a few thoughts on how they could be improved...
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Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
