Just thought I’d share some initial thoughts about the new browser from Google.  

1. Most intriguing is that it loads pages incredibly fast. I’ve been experiencing more crashes with Firefox lately and IE always seems to run slow. Chrome seems very fast and stable which is really all I ask from a browser.

2. It’s got a very streamlined look and feel. To me IE suffers from the typical MSFT bloat-ware-itis of everything they produce. Read the rest…

Here is an interesting link that I found when reading John Battelle’s Searchblog. What caught my attention was that this is not the first time I’ve run across web extensions or sites that have been built with the sole purpose of excluding content (Google or Wikipedia content to be specific) from SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). Why exclude these most trusted of sources? Is Google becoming so ubiquitous that they have started to dilute their search results in the eyes of consumers? Or maybe Google is simply becoming over played? Like any flash-in-the-pan pop start, there is only so much of a good thing that people can take before they start to look elsewhere just for the sake of change. Is the day approaching when people will turn to other “Cuil” new sites for more unbiased search results?

Let us know what you think!

Here’s the low down from one of our Google reps. Now we wait and see if it passes muster and the feds:

Thanks for asking about this deal with Yahoo. Yesterday, we announced a
non-exclusive advertising agreement that give Yahoo! the ability to use
Google’s search and contextual advertising technology through its AdSense
for Search and AdSense for Content advertising programs.  Under the
agreement, Yahoo! has the option to display Google ads alongside its own
natural search results in the U.S. and Canada.  In addition, Yahoo! can
serve contextually targeted ads on its U.S. and Canadian web properties as
well as on its current publisher partner sites.

If you’d like to learn more information, please feel free to check out our
official press release at
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/our-agreement-to-provide-ad-technology.html.

As for what this means to our advertisers, this deal will not change the
way Google’s ad auctions will run. Google doesn’t set the prices manually
for ads; rather, advertisers themselves determine prices through an
ongoing competitive auction.

Also, advertisers will not be able to target Yahoo searches. Yahoo will
simply be treated as a part of Google’s partner network, and advertisers
will only be able to decide whether their ads should only be served on
Google web properties or also appear on partner websites.

Hot off the Press:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004473897_webyahoogoogle12.html

In case you were wondering how to count the ways, or more specifically conversions, check out the options from Google. Thanks to Dave for this contribution:

 Can I track more than one kind of conversions?

Yes. You can create up to 30 different kinds of actions to track, each with a unique name.

You can also track different kinds of conversions using a customized performance report through the AdWords Report Center.

To create a conversion report:

1. Log in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.
2. Click the Reports tab at the top of the page and then on the Create Report link.
3. Choose your Report Type, View, Date Range, and which Campaigns and Ad Groups you want included (where relevant).
4. In the ‘Advanced Options’ section, click ‘Add or Remove Columns’ and then, under the ‘Conversion Columns’ section, select the types of conversion data you want included in your report. The report column display will change to reflect your selections. To further refine your results, you can set up to four data filters to screen out irrelevant statistics.
5. Schedule your report, save it as a template if you want to re-use it, and provide an email address and file format if you want it sent via email.
6. Click Create Report.

Your report will begin running based on your specifications and will be emailed (if you selected that option) as well as saved to your Report Center as one of your most recent five reports.

For more information

Haven’t seen it in action yet, but I believe this will really help us understand cause and effect of the optimizations we perform:

Change History tool enhancement: Charting
In the coming weeks, we will be updating the My Change History Tool to include a helpful new addition: Google Finance-like graphs that map change events to account performance metrics such as impressions and clicks. These graphs will give you greater visibility into event causality and arm you with insight into how the changes you make impact your account’s performance.