Google Trends was released today which will let you compare search result totals to each other. Basically lets you see what is searched for the most between any given amount of terms. It’s pretty cool I think.
Google is undergoing a little makeover right now. They are sending out beta trials of the new design to random datacenters and I happen to hit tonight. I’m not a fan of it because it feels like it’s going to become very commercialized and quickly with that new sidebar. I like it on the top and all the search results where they are. You may say ‘no, that’s just because that’s what you’re used to’. Well, maybe, but I really don’t like it at all. They are wasting white space in the header now that they were using prior with those links. Maybe they’re trying to rally up the usage of the other services they provide…who knows.
Motorola and Google have both entered into an agreement to be media partners. Motorola is making a big push for global media search and they chose Google to be the provider of the service. Financial details were not disclosed. Motorola did agree to put Google logos and icons in their applications for easy one-touch Google access which will drive even more traffic to the already-famous search engine.
Google added a music portion to the search engine functionality. You are now able to type in an artist and bring up results that are closely related to the artist. As of right now the functionality to type in an album still brings up normal results. Such results for the artist though, brings up results similar to these. From this page, you can then navigate to an album or a song that the artist has written. Details are able to be pulled directly about each album and lyrics pages are even drawn in the results for the viewer. This added ability to searches for music will help increase popularity. Google is offer links to download these albums too. iTunes, Sony, and Real Rhapsody are the primary providers for these content links and Google will be able to draw in a lot more revenue through these links. I believe there is much more than simply a partnership though, there is an investment for all companies involved with these affiliations so that they can create a more unified music industry on the web. With the recent near-closure of music lyrics applications/websites, it will be … fun … to see where Google goes with this new addition to the search engine.
AOL and Google recently announced that they were going to stay partners. Google is going to provide AOL a sum cash of $1 billion and Google will take home 5% of AOL. In turn, AOL will stay with Google as their powered search company and advertiser. Google was fighting Microsoft on this bid to see who would win the position. Google came out on top. Google is extending the deal with AOL from when they first started in 2002 with AOL as the search and advertising provider.
Even on top of all this, now that Google is staying with AOL, AOL is making a bigger push to have busier ads. They are going to be looking for ads with flash, ads with more logos, ads with a busier look to them and make them more attractive.
Google recently released Homepage APIs. Did you ever want the Google homepage to look and feel just like you want? Google APIs are here and they have a LOT to offer. Google APIs have now given webmasters, programmers, and everyday users the capability to add in whatever they want to their homepage. You say you want Yahoo! now instead of Google on your homepage? Simply code it into an API, host it, and now you have Yahoo!. The point of the APIs is to give everyone the opportunity to create Google IG (Personalized Homepage) the custom feel they want and need. Google isn’t becoming a portal like Yahoo! or MSN, but rather they are giving everyone the freedom to do whatever they want. This kind of flexibility in an application is very strong and innovative.
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Speculations have been made and things have been said. Google stock was able to show off it’s stuff at a peak performance of $431.24, but maybe this was just a bit too high for the public to actually want. It’s likely the stock went so high people started to doubt it’s actual worth and value. But just to make matters worse, MSN has plans to take over Google’s operations as AOL’s primary search and media provider. This would leave Google in the dark and lose a lot of business from AOL search from the tens of millions of AOL users. This talk between MSN and AOL is not new, but something that was brewing and now can be confirmed that it will most likely happen. This change of media providers for AOL will directly effect the value of Google’s stock and will most likely boost MSN’s stock in the process. There is still a chance that AOL will continue it’s service with Google and make it even stronger at the expense of Microsoft, but analysts still expect there to be a change somewhere. AOL plans on making the change before the end of the year, so expect an update within 3 weeks.
Google just finished the design and application for an even more personal search. When using your Google Account, your search queries will follow you around where you go on Google and will become integrated even more into your search activities. The Google Personalized Search is tracking Web searches, Image searches, and News searches. The functionality is still there to pause, items, select all, etc. As far as we can tell, Google has not disclosed any information about how this ‘personalized search’ data is used. It could be a very good marketing seller to a company. Hopefully Google will release more information about how this data will be used in the future or now.
There is a lot learn about Google Personalized Search and even more to use with it. It has a great future, lets just make the best use of it.
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