April 2003 Google News Archive

Google Finds a Good Analyst - April 30, 2003

One of Silicon Valley's favorite parlor games is guessing when Google will go public. Though CEO Eric Schmidt says an IPO isn't imminent (see Tech: Where the Action Is), here's a sign that Google is at least thinking of testing the public waters: It has hired respected former CSFB analyst Lise Buyer, 43, to be what she calls "official lug-nut checker."

Google: Right Up Your Alley and Pointing at the Door
-April 29, 2003

Go to Google's regular search page (www.google.com), key in your area code and phone number, using hyphens, then click "Google Search." In most cases, almost immediately, that brings up your name, address and phone listing.

Big deal, right? Here's the bonus that disturbs some people struggling to keep their privacy private: Directly next to your name and address are links to "Yahoo! Maps" and "MapQuest" that provide unsettlingly accurate street maps showing inquiring minds how to get to your house. Detailed driving directions are also available.

ComScore Launches Search Service -April 29, 2003

In initial January rankings, qSearch ranked Google as the top search engine for English-speaking Internet users, garnering a 33 percent share of consumer searches. Yahoo! followed with 24 percent; MSN was third at 19 percent and AOL fourth at 12 percent. In just the United States, however, Yahoo! came out on top, with a 26 percent share to Google's 23 percent.

Google Buys Targeted Ad Firm as Overture Posts Profits -  April 24, 2003

Adding another weapon to its technology arsenal in the ongoing search engine wars, Google has announced the acquisition of privately held Applied Semantics for an undisclosed sum.

Santa Monica, California-based Applied Semantics builds software that allows ads to be targeted to match the content of a Web page. One of its longtime customers is Google competitor Overture

Google goes Maltese - April 24, 2003

Like all popular things in this world, it was just a matter of time before many Internet users’ favorite search engine went Maltese. The search engine, Google, found at www.google.com , can now be read in either the English or Maltese language and offers all the usual features.

Tech chief says Google looking into the future
- April 24, 2003

Here's a tip for searching Google that you can be pretty sure is a good one:

Don't ask: “What is the capital of Illinois?” Instead, type “the capital of Illinois is” into the search field so Google goes looking for Web pages containing that phrase, which are likely to end with “Springfield.”

In other words, as Craig Silverstein put it on Tuesday, “always phrase your query in the form of an answer.”

Google's Content-Targeted Advertising: The Relevance is Debatable - April 22, 2003

It's been about a month since Google announced their Content-Targeted advertising program and the initial results are in…or, at least, my initial results are in. And it doesn't look so good.

Our company, ClickTracks, use Google's AdWords program and Overture to increase awareness of our web site analysis tools. Naturally, we were interested in seeing how Google's new syndication mechanism was affecting our own site's traffic. Using our own program, we did an analysis of syndication-driven visitor's behavior. After one month, we can say that on our own site, the Content-Targeted advertising repeatedly leads to one specific action…the user clicking the 'back' button and leaving our site.

Google is experimenting with several projects
- April 22, 2003

Inktomi, Google Win In Recent Relevancy Test -
April 17, 2003

Got the 4-1-1? Google offers maps - April 17, 2003

Google's Brave New World - April 15, 2003

Search engine Google is virtually revered by the Internet community and is often profiled as a pure technology company that does not take commercial interests to heart. But those days are over. In the past two years, Google has inked revenue-generating deals with almost every major player on the Internet, stepped up efforts to secure the lion's share of Internet advertising dollars, and tested the waters in the news and e-commerce sectors.

Where are these ventures taking Google, and where is Google taking the Internet? It is more than an academic question: Google processes more than 150 million Web searches per day. By some accounts, 75 percent of the outside traffic to any given Web site originates on Google. Where Google goes, so goes the Web.

Google founder wanted phones banned from HQ
- April 15, 2003

Google co-founder Sergei Brinn left the Soviet Union when he was five years old, but was able to communicate something of the Stakhanovite work ethic to his co-founder US-born Larry Page.

Page wanted no telephones to be installed near the employees, lest they waste valuable company time making phone calls. This, and more, we learn from a New York Times feature on the company published on Sunday.

The boy wonders Page and Brinn created Google as a research project at Stanford University, but when the two scamps entered the real world, their dorm room eccentricities continued.

In Searching the Web, Google Finds Riches -
April 14, 2003

READ THIS ARTICLE Great overview of Google.  Where they have been and where they are headed with a new wave of advertising.

Google aims at greatness - April 14, 2003

...dig below Google's eclectic environment and there's more than just the over-the-top zaniness that helped drive so many of its peers in the Internet business bankrupt. Underneath the dot-com dressings is a company with substance, with a game plan and -- most importantly -- a proven product.

By eschewing quick and easy profits and the temptation of an earlier public stock offering, and instead sticking to its unusual but uncompromising mission of changing the world with an Internet search engine, Google has become an indispensable tool for Web users, a part of the pop lexicon -- and along the way, a profitable business.

Founders and employees say they're only getting started

Competition is increasing for Google - April 14, 2003

It's another bug, confirms Google - April 14, 2003

It's a bug! And what a big butterfly net we must have, for we've only been paying attention to Google for a week, and we've already found three critters. Or is it four?

By telephone, we guided Google's Head of Corporate Communications David Krane through the procedure we used to unearth the "sun storage" feature we discovered last week.

The Search Engine End Game - April 14, 2003

A great article that recaps all the major search engine acquisitions and power plays of 2003.

As, the author states, this will be a very busy year with more major plays sure to come.

If you read the Google Gazette last week you will remember that I said I had a feeling big things were on the horizon.

At least someone else agrees with me!! :o)

THE GOOGLE DANCE HAS BEGUN!!!! - April 11, 2003




Google sifts news from PR - April 11, 2003

SEARCH engine Google is trying to change the way its
news page handles press releases, after some appeared
on the site without being identified.

Users can search Google News for recent stories from
4,500 news sites. Two months ago, the site started
including press releases among the search results.

However, as first reported by British web site The
Register, releases appearing on sites like Yahoo News,
Seafood.com, and Semiconductor Business News were not
marked in search results.





Google washes whiter - April 11, 2003

Google has made its own statement on the 'Googlewash':
by making The Register story that coined the phrase
disappear from its search results.

Not all the search results, mark you, but a very
specific one. When you search for the word
"Googlewash" (as at 9pm Pacific Time last night)
around a hundred results are returned by default. Our
story, which is where the word was coined, isn't among
them.

We found it, eventually, but it was very difficult.




Report criticizes Google's porn filters - April 11, 2003

An optional setting that aims to keep adult content
out of the popular search engine's search-result
listings excludes thousands of innocuous sites, a
Harvard study says.

 

Google turns News 'bug' into payola feature -
April 9,2003

Google's semantic redefinition of the word "News" could soon prove a lucrative bonus for the secretive search engine company.

Why secretive? The company refuses to publish its News Policy - and it maintains the fiction that the selection and composition of stories on its "News section" was "determined by a computer". That's as true as the assertion that the selection and composition of the story you're reading now was "determined by a computer", too.

As we exclusively confirmed on Friday, Google Inc. has begun treating press releases as news.

Related Stories:

PR rules, OK? Google ducks promised news policy pledge

Google: Is all the news fit to post?

Chinese Sites Band Together To Counter Google
- April 9, 2003

As international Internet search engine giant Google prepares to move into China, more than 200 websites on the mainland have formed a coalition to meet the challenge.

Google And The Big Brother Nomination - April 3, 2003

In this article, I'll explore each of the major allegations that Google Watch made against Google as evidence of it being a threat to privacy and of "Big Brother" behavior. At the end of each allegation, I'll provide my own verdict about how seriously a typical person may wish to consider each claim.

Be forewarned. This is a long article. If you are interested in a particular accusation, use the links below to jump to the beginning of where each accusation is explored. You can also jump right to the verdict for each accusation.

Microsoft eyeing Google's territory  - April 3, 2003

PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp., the world's No. 1 software maker, Wednesday said it is taking aim at privately held Google Inc., the Web-search company that's so popular its name is used as a verb.

"We do view Google more and more as a competitor. We believe that we can provide consumers with a better product and a better user experience. That's something that we're actively looking at doing," Bob Visse, director of marketing for Microsoft's MSN Internet services division, said.

Visse said the company was making some significant investments in developing a better search engine. But the company has not offered specific plans.

Search Privacy At Google & Other Search Engines
- April 3, 2003

There's been some pretty scary statements made about Google and the privacy of search requests recently. You may have heard that Google was nominated for a "Big Brother" award. You may also have read that Google knows everything you ever searched for. Should you be frightened? It is time to boycott Google to protect yourself, as blogger Gavin Sheridan called for last month?

Relax. Yes, there are privacy issues to be aware of when you do a search at Google. However, these issues are just as much as a concern for other search engines you visit, as well. More importantly, the fear that you personally could be tracked isn't realistic, for the vast majority of users, at least by Google itself.

In this article, we'll take a closer look at just what exactly Google knows about you, when you come to do a search -- and see why you needn't be so worried, for the moment.

Google Secures Scandinavian Deal - April 1, 2003

(news archives)