Google Makes Search More Show And Tell
Simplicity has always been Google’s mantra. Keep the search results free from clutter and make it easy for people to find information in the least amount of time. Some believe pictures, rather than words, provide an easy way to accomplish the task, especially as search moves on to more mobile devices running Android and tablets with touchscreens, such as Apple’s iPad. Search is going visual and Google plans to take it there. It appears the ever-changing Web prompted the Mountain View, Calif. search engine to once again shake up its special formula — the one that gets people to click on paid-search ad links and sponsored links Sitelinks, which sometimes appear as blue links under the first listing in search results because each time a consumer clicks on an ad, Google hears ‘chi-ching.’ Google announced visual changes to its user interface Wednesday. This time it added icons accompanying words that sort results down the left panel. The options and tools give people the ability to only see the most relevant searches on queries. A click-everything option allows the person to see it all. The new design refreshes and streamlines the look, feel and functions, writes Marissa Mayer, Google vice president of search products and user experience, in a blog. Google has been testing these changes with users during the past few months, and what launched today reflects the feedback.
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Apple Is Siri-ous About Search
Nearly one year ago, in the wake of the Bing launch, fellow Search Insider Gord Hotchkiss declared, “Search needs an iPhone.” Responding to Bing’s decision-engine positioning, Gord wrote, “What if Microsoft is right (as I suspect they are), and search is broken? What if we could have a significantly better search experience? What would it take to deliver that? It requires scrapping all preconceived notions and starting over. It requires an approach like the iPhone.” Gord and I agreed that Bing, while a significant step forward for Microsoft, is not a game-changer from a user-experience standpoint and more innovation is/was needed. Gord’s column continued: “The iPhone isn’t a mobile phone, it’s a mobile Web and computing device. The phone is secondary. The iPhone is in the middle of changing the way we interact with online. We squeeze, spread, stroke, tap and shake. The iPhone also opened up an ecosystem of functionality. The App Store is the true genius of the iPhone: little bits of integrated functionality, making our lives more fun, more productive and more connected. Apple never intended to catch up. It intended to vault over the competition, changing the rules and opening a new marketplace. Apple strategists had nothing short of revolution on their minds.” Two recent events make it pretty clear that Apple feels the same way about search as it does/did about the phone.
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Adap.TV Gets RTB: Real-Time Bidding For The Online Video Marketplace
Teg Grenager, founder and VP of Product at Adap.tv, provided perspective on the implications of the announcement.
AdExchanger.com: Can you discuss the current and future plans regarding creative formats available for real-time bidding (RTB)?
One of the primary goals of the adap.tv marketplace is to make buying and selling video easy and efficient for all parties. To do this, we have had to overcome one of the main challenges of online video: the lack of format standards adoption. We currently offer the most common in-stream video formats: 15 and 30 second (linear) video spots, with and without a 300×250 companion banner. However, we are expanding to include overlays, viewer choice ads, and other formats that our customers want.
How do you vet real-time bidders on your inventory? Can anyone participate?
In order to participate, real-time bidders must agree to our legal terms, provide a certain level of financial commitment, and meet our technical requirements. Then they can use the adap.tv console to set up an RTB feed, and specify the sites and placements they would like to bid on. The publishers that manage those placements then receive an email notification, and can return to the console to review. Every publisher has the option to approve or deny a buyer.
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