November 2, 2009 Archives

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Continue reading "Daily Search Forum Recap: November 2, 2009"

I am a bit in shock to see Google testing yet another messaging on their simplistic fading home page. First it was just a plain and simple search box and logo, with no instructions. Then Google had to add instructions to tell people they need to press enter to conduct a search. Now, Google is taking it one step further by explaining that the page is left empty on purpose.

Here is a screen capture:

Yes, this is the type of stuff you see on standardize tests or big legal documents. Now, you see this on Google's home page.

We have some people complaining about this in the forums.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.

Google News has dropped the "Text Version" feature sometime over the past week or so. A Google News Help thread has some complaints dating back to October 22nd.

Personally, I don't think I ever used the text option for Google News, but some have. I did spot a screen shot with the option on Flickr, over here, just look on the left hand column. Now, if you go to Google News, you won't see the "Text Version" link anymore.

Why did Google drop it? Fred from the Google News team said in the Google News Help thread:

We're always experimenting with ways to make Google News more useful. Occasionally, this also means we have to re-evaluate our efforts to be sure we focus on features that make the most sense for our users.

We decided to phase out Text view, in part, because we believe Headline view provides much of the same functionality. You can select Headline view and see all of the article links that Google News has to offer. If you're on a slow connection, Headline view should be faster than the default Google News homepage.

We apologize for any frustration this might cause. We remain committed to helping all of our readers discover as much news content as possible, while helping publishers find and reach new audiences online.

Farewell text version of Google News!

Forum discussion at Google News Help.

Five days after Google announced adding music playable search results to their index, I am now able to see it. It only took about five days, but it is there. Yes, Yahoo has been doing this for a really long time, so Google is playing catch up.

Here is a sample result:

And if you click the play button a window opens up and plays a sample of the song:

Just an FYI - Google had music search back in 2005, just about four years ago. But here is how it now works:

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

If you scope out Bondi Beach in Australia you will see a little easter egg:

See it? I would be shocked if this was not mentioned elsewhere or if this was not some public stunt that I missed.

But a Google Maps Help thread brought this to my attention.

Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.

Schwarzenegger Gives California Legislature A Hidden Finger showed how a letter Schwarzenegger wrote had a hidden message. Here it is:

Creative, funny and just outstanding journalism. But not all think so.

The news made it though various publications and then hit the front page of Google News. Supposedly, I don't have a screen shot to prove it, the F bomb was on the front page of Google News. What I see now is:

However, Google did apologize for the word showing up on the front page of Google News. In a Google News Help thread, Googler Inbal said:

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. As you my know, Google News is highly unusual in that it offers a news service compiled solely by computer algorithms without human intervention. There are no human editors at Google selecting or grouping the headlines and pictures, and no individual decides which stories and images get top placement. This automation is what makes Google News a valuable source of information on the important issues of the day. We are always working to improve our service, and your feedback will help us in this process.

Forum discussion at Google News Help.