Whodunit slip or trip answer

Back from his trip to North Korea, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt has posted a few thoughts on his visit. But far more interesting and revealing was the travelogue from his daughter Sophie, who accompanied him on the trip. Schmidt posted about his visit on his Google+ page, saying North Korean technology is limited, the internet is supervised and that North Korea will find it increasingly difficult to stay isolated, concluding: As the world becomes increasingly connected, the North Korean decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world and their economic growth. It will make it harder for them to catch up economically. We made that alternative very, very clear. Once the internet starts in any country, citizens in that country can certainly build on top of it, but the government has to do one thing: open up the Internet first. They have to make it possible for people to use the Internet, which the government of North Korea … [Read more...] about After North Korea Trip, Eric Schmidts Daughter Outshines Father With Travelogue

Will the day come that Google can successfully respond when you tell it something like, “Book me a trip to Washington, DC” — walking you through all the queries and answers needed to complete such a complex request? Will the day come when we’re using devices that only offer voice-based search? Will the day come when visual search happens continuously via the camera on Google Glass? Those are some of the search-based challenges that Google is working on, and they’re discussed in a recent interview that offers a peek at what Google thinks search will be like in the next decade. Or maybe “plans for search to be like” would be a more accurate phrase. Google Research Fellow Jeff Dean discusses these topics and more in a recent interview with the Puget Sound Business Journal. He’s been with the company since 1999 and works in the Systems Infrastructure Group, where they do things like apply machine learning to search (and pretty much all of … [Read more...] about We Want To Be Able To Respond To A Query Like “Book Me A Trip To Washington, DC”

Have you ever Googled in search for an answer, and gotten the answer right away at the top of search results, without having to click through to a website? Then you have seen Google’s famous (or, depending where you rank in search results, infamous) Answer Box powered by the Knowledge Graph. For search users, it’s a blessing because it provides immediate answers to your questions without additional clicks through to a website. To website owners, on the other hand, it can be a blessing or a curse. It can be a blessing in two scenarios: if your website is the one that provides the answer for the Answer Box and leads the searcher to click through for additional details, or if your website is the closest search result that provides either a more thorough answer or a next step. On the flipside, it can be a curse if your website provides the same answer as the Answer Box or if your website is too far down the page so that searchers either get their answer from the Answer Box or … [Read more...] about Optimize Your Site for Google Answer Box

How many of you get stuck in the “what should I write about” trap? ::raising my hand:: Fortunately, there’s a simple way to create highly useful content that’s great for your readers. Plus, Google LOVES this kind of content, and it even gives it special billing in the search results. What’s the secret? Answer common questions your readers ask every day. Why is answering questions such a powerful content play? Easy. Because your readers have questions. Shouldn’t your company be the one that answers them? Think about it. How many times have you signed up for a newsletter after reading a particularly helpful blog post? Or, downloaded a white paper for more information? You may have even made a purchase. Strong, question-oriented content can cause conversions. For instance, let’s say you were planning a trip to San Diego with your family. You’d probably start typing in question-oriented queries like: [best time to visit … [Read more...] about Why Answering Questions Is a Powerful Content Play

Following yesterday’s massive rollout of several Bing search enhancements, one of their new content features, Attraction Answers, is fully functional today. Intended to complement over 3,000 new destination guides for cities around the world, Attraction Answers also offers more details on over 60,000 tourist attractions worldwide, with approximately 20,000 attractions across the US. The attractions data, as well as the destination information is being provided by Frommer’s, so in many cases, you’ll be given links to the official attraction site, as well as a link to Frommer’s guidebook page to those destinations and attractions. According to Bing, Attraction Answers are a quick snapshot of attractions for a specific destination in the SERP, while Destination Pages are a deeper look into the local area that includes travel information such as flight search and weather, as well as videos, images and events. In reality, Attraction Answers don’t seem to appear … [Read more...] about Bing Travel Adds Attraction Answers, Gives Destination One-Boxes