Category Archives: Search Engine Optimization

Where’s Santa Claus? The 2012 Santa Tracker List, From NORAD To Google, From The Web To Apps

It’s Christmas Even, and Santa Claus is on his annual trip delivering presents to all the good little boys and girls around the world. This year, not just one but two major organizations are offering ways to track Jolly St. Nick on his flight. Below, our annual review of how to track him by the web, by app or even through a telephone call.

In the first corner, we have NORAD — the joint US-Canadian missile-tracking organization that has also been watching for Santa since 1955, after a mistaken phone number was placed in a newspaper ad, inviting children to call to find Santa’s whereabouts. NORAD took up the challenge and has been doing it for nearly 60 years now.

In the second corner, we have Google. The search engine giant has partnered with NORAD on Santa tracking since 2007, but this year, the two parted ways. NORAD partnered with Microsoft and its Google-rival search engine, Bing. Meanwhile, Google launched its own Santa Tracker for the first time.

Both are currently live now, simultaneously tracking Santa, as the screenshot shows above. Taken at exactly the same moment, it shows Santa in two different locations at the same time! He’s clearly that fast, kids, and the different technologies each organization uses locks on to him in different ways.

NORAD explains that it uses everything from radar to jets to track Santa. Google doesn’t explain its technology, but I suspect it tries to triangulate Santa using his cell signal or use of wifi hotspots. That means his location is likely more an estimate than what NORAD has.

As for why NORAD shows him delivering three-times the number of gifts that Google is listing, remember that Google is only showing an estimate. Like its estimates on the number of search results you get, it can vary widely.

Also see our more detailed explaination about all this, Santa Tracking Explained: Why NORAD Google Show Different Locations Gifts Delivered.

The Santa Tracking Sites

Enough preamble. If you’re looking for either site, you’ll find them here:

If I see other unique or significant sites, I’ll add them to the list above. However, most of the others, I’ve found in doing reviews over the years, offer little beyond what NORAD does and does well. They’re often also slow and unstable.

Below, more about using both of the sites above, in various ways.

Santa By Map

When you go to both of the sites above, by default, you’ll see the location of St. Nicholas on a map. I like the NORAD map better than Google’s, because Santa’s location on the map is constantly moving, with a topographical view of the area he’s flying over displayed:

Sure, Google’s icon for Santa also moves, but much more slowly. There’s no sense of FAST! And the maps doesn’t have a topographical look:

Each map also says where Santa was last spotted by the particular service, where he’s estimated to be headed toward and arrival time, along with number of estimated gifts delivered. Google also reports total distance traveled and the status of Santa’s attitude (“Mmmm, those cookies were delicious!).

Google does have a 3D view similar to the one that NORAD shows by default. You just have to enable it by clicking on the “Earth” link above the compass in the map. If you do that, you’ll give a much more animated view similar to NORAD’s, seen through what looks very much like a Google Nexus 10 tablet:

Where Santa’s Been

By the way, when you’re in Google’s default 2D view, if you click on the little X on the circle around Santa, you’ll see all the places he’s been spotted:

You can click on the icon for a particular place, you’ll learn when he arrived and have access to Wikipedia information and general pictures of the location:

NORAD also shows past locations. To see this, click on the 2D button within the map. That will change it over for you, and you’ll see Santa’s current location plus all the places that he’s been:

If you click on any of the presents, you’ll get information from Wikipedia about the place St. Nick has visited. If you click on one of the green circles, you’ll see Santa Cam footage of his flyover. That leads to…

Video Of Santa In Flight

Only NORAD offers Santa Cam video of Father Christmas in flight. You’ll find the latest video listed on the NORAD Tracks Santa video page:

Oddly, only the last three videos are listed. Annoyingly, the NORAD Tracks Santa YouTube page doesn’t list any at all. They’ve been hidden there, and so far, NORAD doesn’t appear to be unhiding those that are published.

So, if you need to check for video from a particular area, go to the 2D map view and look for those aforementioned green circles. And do watch the videos. They’re cool. Here’s one showing Santa Claus flying over China and the Great Wall:

Tracking By App

As we’re constantly on the move, it can be useful to also track Santa when we’re away from our computers. Both sites make this possible, though it’s hard to location these options on the NORAD site.

Before Christmas Eve, NORAD’s app tracking options were easily spotted at the bottom the main page:

I fear something has gone wrong with the site, because none of those links now show. But the apps do work, so here are the links again:

I’ll be taking a closer look at these with some screenshots when I do an update of this story later today. Meanwhile, Google also has apps with links that I think are also hard to find. I’ve listed them below. Sorry iPhone and Windows Phone users — only Android is supported:

Tracking Santa Via Social Media

Both NORAD and Google are offering ways to keep up with Santa’s location through social media. From NORAD:

And from Google:

Santa Tracking By Real Phone

Finally, my favorite feature of all the Santa tracking services is that you can actually call NORAD and have a human being give you an update. The number is 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723). You’ll likely get a recorded update at first, as the lines get busy, but within a short time (I only waited a minute), a you’ll get an update from a volunteer, usually a military volunteer spending their Christmas Eve in a different type of service, that of helping kids around the world continue to believe.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from Search Engine Land!

About The Author: Danny Sullivan is editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land. He’s a widely cited authority on search engines and search marketing issues who has covered the space since 1996. Danny also oversees Search Engine Land’s SMX: Search Marketing Expo conference series. He maintains a personal blog called Daggle (and maintains his disclosures page there). He can be found on Facebook, Google + and microblogs on Twitter as @dannysullivan. See more articles by Danny Sullivan

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Article source: http://feeds.searchengineland.com/~r/searchengineland/~3/iX6U7O83pNc/wheres-santa-claus-the-2012-santa-tracker-list-from-norad-to-google-143379

Report: No, Google Maps Not Responsible For iOS 6 Upgrades

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The notion that Google Maps drove a rash of iOS 6 upgrades turns out to be wrong according to ad network Chitika. As several people have already argued, iOS 6 traffic growth more likely came from the release of the iPhone 5 in China (Apple said it sold 2 million handsets over the initial weekend).

Mobile ad exchange MoPub earlier this week suggested a large contingent of Apple iPhone owners who hadn’t yet upgraded from iOS 5 to iOS 6 were prompted to do so by the release of the new Google Maps app. That story seemed to fit with the immense anticipation and interest, among tech writers, in Google’s native maps app.

The story also seemed to be confirmed by Google’s Jeff Huber’s statement that the new Google Maps app had been downloaded more than 10 million times in the first 48 hours following its launch. Indeed the Google Maps app is hugely popular.

Chitika’s data show that iOS 6 adoption in the US was essentially flat in the two days following the launch of Google Maps for iOS:

Upon the release of iOS 6 last quarter there was a surge of immediate upgrades. Chitika said at the time that roughly 61 percent of Apple device owners upgraded their operating systems within just a couple weeks. Chitika reports that iOS 6 adoption currently stands at about 73 percent.

What’s also interesting about this story is that it reflects the way in which tech bloggers and journalists often believe their obsessions are shared by the public at large. However there’s very much a metaphorical “beltway” phenomenon in the tech industry. We scrutinize obsess, covet and complain about things to which “ordinary people” in the “real world” pay far less attention.

Postscript: Chitika has updated its graph to include additional days since the launch of Google Maps’ iOS app and says North American iOS 6 traffic remains the same as before the mapping app’s release.

Related Topics: Apple | Google: Maps Local | Google: Mobile

About The Author: Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog Screenwerk, about SoLoMo issues and connecting the dots between online and offline. He also posts at Internet2Go, which is focused on the mobile Internet. Follow him @gsterling. See more articles by Greg Sterling

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Search In Pics: Google Menorah, Google Aura & Glass Water Bottles

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In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.

Google Aura:

Source: Google+

Google Scooter:

Source: Google+

Wooden Google+ Pen:

Source: Google+

Google Water Bottles:

Source: Google+

GooglePlex Menorah:

Source: Google+

Related Topics: Search In Pictures

Article source: http://feeds.searchengineland.com/~r/searchengineland/~3/4uufdubfmXY/search-in-pics-google-menorah-google-aura-glass-water-bottles-143253

Study Hints At Long-Term Siri Threat To Google In Mobile

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Apple Insider is reporting, based on a study by investment firm Piper Jaffray, that Siri today (iOS 6) relies on Google considerably less than it did in iOS 5.

That’s partly a result of the switch from Google’s local data in Maps to Apple’s own mapping data. However another part of the change is probably the addition of more non-Google sources of structured data to support Siri.

In Piper Jaffray’s previous study it found that Siri used Google or Google data to answer 60 percent of queries. Now that number has dropped to 30 percent. The chart below (via Apple Insider) illustrates who “wins” and who “loses” under the new regime:

While the methodology here isn’t entirely clear, one of the interesting findings is that a substantial percentage of Siri-initiated queries are local (Apple Maps, Yelp). It’s also not clear how Yelp is being counted (probably as part of queries to Apple Maps). Accordingly, it’s hard to reliably say something like “X percent of Siri queries are local” from this data.

Piper Jaffray also compared the accuracy of Siri vs. Google Now/Voice Search and found that the services were almost comparable, with Siri being slightly more accurate:

“It appears the two voice assistants are comparable to one another in terms of understanding the spoken query and returning the correct result,” Munster wrote. “In our test, Siri correctly understood our queries 91% of the time in a quiet environment compared to Google Now at 88%. In terms of accuracy, we determined that Siri accurately answered understood queries 77% of the time compared to 75% for Google now.”

Opus Research (which I work with) conducted a survey earlier this year, prior to the release of iOS 6, asking about Siri usage as a search substitute. In some percentage of cases people were using Siri instead of Google, though Google (in its various mobile flavors) was overwhelmingly the way these survey respondents found things.

Question: Which of the following do you use MOST OFTEN to search the web on your phone? (n=503 iPhone 4S owners):

Google.com — 44.9 percent
Search from the Safari toolbar — 26.4 percent
Google mobile app — 19.3 percent
Siri — 11.1 percent
Bing and/or Yahoo — 6.6 percent

In the above, Google is likely responsible for about about 91 percent of mobile search queries (assuming that Google is the default on Safari for the overwhelming majority). This figure consistent with mobile search market-share data from StatCounter.

The data above argue that if Apple continues to invest in Siri and Maps it could capture more local queries at a minimum — and potentially a broader range of queries that would otherwise have gone to Google.

Related Topics: Apple: Maps | Apple: Siri | Google: Mobile | Google: Web Search | Top News

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Google Challenges NORAD In Tracking Santa, Launches Google Santa Tracker

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Google has decided to take on the decades-old Santa tracking service that NORAD offers with its own “Google Santa Tracker.” It comes in the wake NORAD booting Google out as a partner in favor of Microsoft.

How NORAD Began Tracking Santa Since 1955

First some history, then what Google has in store. When I was a kid (I said history, right?) back in the 1970s, I remember listening to the radio to get NORAD updates about where Santa’s location was. NORAD is the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a joint US-Canadian organization that tracks missile launches and objects in space.

NORAD also tracks Santa. It’s been doing so since 1955, when the wrong number was printed in a Sears newspaper ad inviting people to call for St. Nick’s location. NORAD’s number was printed by mistake, and NORAD stepped up to the challenge. You can read more about that story here.

Over the years, NORAD adapted to the web. The NORAD Tracks Santa web site has been offering web-based tracking since 2004, to my understanding. I’ve personally been tracking that site — and Santa tracking in general — since 2005.

NORAD Google Partner In 2007

In 2007, there was a major development. Google became an official NORAD Tracks Santa partner. Over the years, Google and NORAD grew closer together with Santa tracking, to the degree that Google was seeming to be almost as synonymous with Santa tracking as NORAD.

Moreover, other Santa tracking services that I’d noted over the years (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011) disappeared. The NORAD-Google service grew so large and dependable that others seemed to give up.

2012: NORAD Partners With Microsoft Google Launches Own Service

This year, I waited for the usual announcement from Google about working again with NORAD. It never came. Instead, last week, news emerged that Microsoft was working with NORAD for the first time. Google was left out in the cold. Or so it seemed.

Today, Google unveiled its own Google Santa Tracker service:

Right now, the site features a countdown clock, which will change to ways to follow Father Christmas on Google Maps Google Earth through the site beginning 2am PT on Christmas Eve. The site also provide links to track him via:

The site also offers games and animations you can play, if you click on items in the Santa’s Village at the bottom of the screen:

Unfortunately, it’s not clear exactly where to click or what different things do, and if you do click on something, it can be slow to load the mini-games.

Record A Call From Santa

The village also provide access to a service that lets Santa send a holiday message (Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are also options along with Christmas, as well as “Hanging Out” and “The Holidays,” among others).

It takes forever to get through all the questions, which you only get to after saying you agree to the legal terms and providing your age:

When you’re done, an MP3 is produced. It’s cute, and you can send it in various ways, including by phone or email.

Google shares more about its new Santa tracker in a blog post today, including saying:

While we’ve been tracking Santa since 2004 with Google Earth, this year a team of dedicated Google Maps engineers built a new route algorithm to chart Santa’s journey around the world on Christmas Eve.

Did Google Have To Compete With NORAD?

Knowing the history of Google’s involvement with NORAD, I guess the post rubbed me the wrong way. I know Google started working with NORAD at least informally in 2006 (see here and here). Maybe it was doing its own thing in a limited fashion back to 2004. But mentioning that date really felt like Google was trying to make out as if it has been tracking Santa on its own for nearly a decade.

The reality is that most of Google’s tracking has been done in conjunction with NORAD. Now that it’s no longer along for that ride, I guess I personally wish it hadn’t felt like it needed to start competing with NORAD. At the very least, I wish NORAD had at least been acknowledged by Google.

Well, it takes a lot to get Macy’s to mention Gimbels, too. Like the real Santa Claus to come along.

NORAD Google Stay Together With YouTube Videos

There remains at least one area that Google and NORAD continue to stay together. That’s through the NORAD Tracks Santa YouTube channel.

NORAD will continue to post high-speed video that it captures of Santa flying around the world on Christmas Eve to Google-owned YouTube. Google doesn’t appear to be planning its own videos for the Google Santa Tracker.

For more about the NORAD Tracks Santa site, see my preview post below. And return on Christmas Eve, when I’ll be recapping how both the NORAD and Google sites are running. Maybe Apple will have an Apple Maps-based tracker live by then.

This Year, NORAD Tracks Santa With Microsoft Bing, Not Google

Related Topics: Google: Santa Tracker | Search Engines: Santa Tracker | Top News

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Article source: http://feeds.searchengineland.com/~r/searchengineland/~3/Bk9PTrDMzs8/google-challenges-norad-in-tracking-santa-launches-google-santa-tracker-142952

Bing Updates Image Design Again: Dim Background, Faster Load Speed & More

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Microsoft Bing announced they have once again updated the Bing Image Search user interface. The previous update was in June of this year. This new update includes:

Added dimmed background and full-screen mode to make it easier to view images in high definition
Larger filmstrip results to make viewing and browsing the images easier
Lightning fast loading speed to view the picture immediately
Unique Page Snapshot preview to see if the webpage it’s from is helpful before clicking on it

Here is a before and after shot:

Before:

After:

Related Topics: Microsoft: Bing Image Search

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land’s News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry’s personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here.
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SMX West Agenda Posted – Register by Friday for Lowest Rates!

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Optimize your paid search, SEO and internet marketing campaigns. Attend Search Engine Land’s SMX West conference in San Jose, CA March 11-13. Register before Super Early Bird rates expire this Friday, December 21.

Build your own program by selecting from any of the 50+ tactical sessions including:

Essential SEO Analytics: The Performance Metrics That Truly Count
Converting The Mobile Customer
Forget What You Know About PPC – Best Practices Debate
From Authorship To Authority: Why Claiming Your Identity Matters
Supercharging Reach Engagement On Facebook Twitter
Google Shopping Goes Pay-For-Play

See the complete agenda.

SMX West is programmed by the editors of Search Engine Land, the source you count on for news, in-depth analysis and how-to advice for all disciplines of search and internet marketing. The quality and diversity of our programming ensures you’ll maximize your investment in time and money. We guarantee it.

Register now and save. All Access passes are priced at just $1395, and include 3 days of exceptional content, invaluable networking and SMX conveniences like all day snacks, hot lunches, and free Wifi. In-depth Workshop and 1-day All Access passes are also priced at their lowest.

Register today!

Need more info? Check out these helpful SMX West links:

Send your team and save 10-20% with our group rates.
Read what past attendees have said.
Need approval? Use the Get the Boss Onboard form.
Staying over? Check out the discounted hotel rate.
More questions? Check out the FAQ.

About The Author: Search Engine Land is a news and information site covering search engine marketing, searching issues and the search engine industry. Special site announcements and occasional sponsor messages are posted by Search Engine Land. See more articles by Search Engine Land

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Article source: http://feeds.searchengineland.com/~r/searchengineland/~3/a6wmsVeOMiM/smx-west-agenda-posted-register-by-friday-for-lowest-rates-142577

YP: 30 Percent Of Search Queries Now Coming From Mobile

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Local search provider and online ad network YP has released its end of the year review report (.pdf). The data are drawn from a huge volume of queries on its PC destination site, its mobile site and apps, as well as its broader advertising network.

YP says that 30 percent of its overall query volume and lookups now come from mobile devices. However 100 percent of queries on the YP network are going to be local in nature given the property and the brand. While the data are not necessarily entirely representative of market-wide local search activity on the PC and in mobile they’re a pretty good proxy.

Once again, it seems perennially, the most searched local category is restaurants, which according to YP constituted 10 percent of all searches. The list on the left below contains the most searched local categories (across platforms) and the one on the right the highest growth local categories.

Compare the lists above to those below, reflecting the top local advertiser spending categories.

YP also reported the “most clicked” categories of 2012:

YP said that the highest local-mobile search growth on its network came from Android devices and the iPad. The company explained that “The number of iPad searches grew 233% compared to the prior year. Searches on Android devices increased 205%. iPhone searches grew as well, up 58% compared to the prior year.”

Another very interesting set of data released involves click-to-call ratios. In the left column below are the categories in which fewer clicks generated more calls, while on the right it took more clicks to generate calls. Accordingly people were more inclined to call the business categories on the left below and less inclined to make phone calls to the categories in the right column.

One could argue that in the left column consumers wanted services or information immediately – including price quotes or bids — whereas in the right column information on a website was sufficient (hours, locations, etc.).

Finally YP points out that, notwithstanding the dominance of restaurant search, mobile is becoming a more mainstream way to find information of all types. The company identified categories “not related to proximity or urgency” (typical local-mobile triggers) that showed significant growth on mobile devices.

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Article source: http://feeds.searchengineland.com/~r/searchengineland/~3/1BF9plEPlBQ/yp-30-percent-of-search-queries-now-coming-from-mobile-142485

SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 14, 2012

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Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

Google In Privacy Flap With Germans Over New iOS Maps

According to a report in Computerworld, Google has violated German data protection and privacy rules with its new Google Maps app for the iPhone. When users install the app and agree to the terms and conditions there’s a check box that authorizes Google to collect “anonymous” user location data. The fact that this box is [...]

Bing’s Social Sidebar Lands On The iPad

Bing has announced that searchers on the iPad will start seeing its “social sidebar” over the next few days. That includes the iPad Mini. Today’s announcement comes just days after Bing finalized a new design for those social results. The social sidebar integrates friend and expert content from a variety of social sources that might [...]

Reporting On Social Media Engagement
I was in this industry when people were starting to throw around the phrase Web 2.0. Video marketing was in its infancy, Facebook was only for college students, and MySpace was where you sold things to a 12-year-old. Along with my time in the industry, social media has grown from a conversation we had with [...]
Search In Pics: Yahoo Tropical Party, Google Zeitgeist Wall Matt Cutts Face Palm
In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more. Binary Google Door: Source: Flickr Google Zeitgeist Wall: Source: Google+ Happy Holidays From Google San Francisco: [...]
Yahoo Announces Secure Search Partnership With AVG
Yahoo and AVG announced a new partnership deal where Yahoo will power AVG’s secure search, which will protect AVG’s customers dangerous websites and online threats. The process uses AVG’s LinkScanner technology to protect their users from malicious web sites. As we reported a couple of days ago, there was an 80% increase in the number [...]