Yahoo! today completed the migration of their search crawler, Yahoo! Slurp, over to the new domain at crawl.yahoo.net.
As of today, all machines crawling as Slurp are now in crawl.yahoo.net. You can see this change in your web server logs, where the page accesses from inktomisearch.com are being fully replaced by crawl.yahoo.net contacts. This does not cover other Yahoo! crawlers, such Yahoo! China, and other verticals, like Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! Travel, etc., which have their own user-agent.
June 5th, 2007
Salesforce.com and Google have formed a strategic global alliance to mutually use their product, packaging, and promotional resources to enable companies of all sizes to realize unprecedented levels of success. As part of the alliance, salesforce.com will be the first on-demand company to resell the Google AdWords platform, acting as an official distribution channel for the Google AdWords product. The alliance is across 43 countries and encompasses distribution, technology and co-marketing efforts.
Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords provides an integrated and effective solution that gives companies of all sizes all the tools they need to acquire new customers and grow their business. By encapsulating every element of the customer lifecycle - advertising, creating leads, closing business and retaining customers - in one solution, Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords enables any company to jump start their business by creating an online marketing and sales presence.
Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords enables users to:
- Advertise Online – With Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords, companies can immediately connect to Google AdWords, and create an ad that is displayed with the relevant search results on Google.com or across the Google AdSense™ content network of partner websites. Users can create an ad in as quickly as five minutes and with as little as $5.
- Attract Prospects – When people search the Web for the products and services that your company sells, your ad appears with the relevant search results. When they click on your ad, visitors are taken to your website.
- Capture Leads – Once you have potential customers on your website, you can entice visitors to fill out a name capture form on your site with an offer for a Webinar or white paper. The information collected on the form flows directly into Salesforce as a new lead.
- Acquire Customers – As soon as a lead is added into Salesforce, it is distributed to the sales team. Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords enables businesses to effectively manage and share leads, track opportunities through the sales cycle and close deals faster. Sales teams can manage all customer interactions in Salesforce and turn qualified leads into new customers.
- Analyze Growth – Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords features dashboards that gives companies a bird’s eye view into lead generation, sales metrics, and company growth. Dashboards and reports are quick and easy to access with real-time information and allow companies to make decisions quickly and alter advertising strategies appropriately.
- Mash-up Other Business Applications – Through the power of Salesforce.com’s AppExchange directory, customers have the opportunity to mash-up any of 600 business applications including technologies for mapping and productivity.
In addition to these features, Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords also includes a custom designed user experience starting with an exclusive login page. Joint customers can go to the Google site at http://www.google.com/adwords/salesforce to login to their AdWords account and can access Salesforce directly at http://www.salesforce.com/google.
Another common thread that brought salesforce.com and Google together in their global alliance is their commitment to corporate philanthropy. In July of 2000, salesforce.com launched the Salesforce.com Foundation, which operates under the company’s innovative 1/1/1 Model — a commitment to deliver 1% Time, 1% Equity and 1% Product to nonprofit organizations and, most recently, to be “one” with the earth.
Since its launch, the Salesforce.com Foundation has donated their product to more than 2,000 nonprofits. Similarly, Google has also given free online advertising to selected nonprofits through its Google Grants program, supporting more than 2,500 nonprofit organizations in 16 countries to date. The Salesforce.com Foundation and Google are now teaming up to donate the new Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords to each other’s nonprofit grantees. These selected nonprofits will be able to gain access to the same integrated sales and marketing success that is available to the private sector at no cost. Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords will also be made available to additional nonprofits within the next quarter.
June 5th, 2007
Ask.com today unveiled Ask3D, a completely re-engineered and redesigned version of Ask.com. Ask3D includes powerful new search technology, an innovative three-panel design, and unique new features that give people what they need, faster.
With the new version of Ask.com, people get the most relevant and customized information they need from the best range of content available, including videos and music clips, and makes it all immediately accessible on one page. Ask3D replaces the previous version of Ask.com and is now available at www.ask.com.
“The new Ask.com is a complete redefinition of the search experience,†said Jim Lanzone, CEO of Ask.com. “On average, it takes people four queries to find what they are searching for online. This is because search engines have forced people to wade through endless lists of links, and refine query after query, to find the right information.â€
“Ask3D reduces the amount of hunting and pecking it takes for people to find what they need. We do this by delivering the right information, from the deepest range of content, all on one clean and simple page. With Ask3D, we are taking a leap towards the future of search.â€
Customized Results
Ask3D understands that no two searches are ever the same, therefore no two search result pages should be exactly alike. “Morph,†Ask3D’s new algorithmic content-matching and ranking technology, is the underlying technology that delivers the most relevant content for each search query, and places that content onto one single page. Morph chooses from content of all types, including Web pages, images, video, music clips and news, and transforms the page to each individual query.
Morph technology works in tandem with Ask.com’s unique ExpertRank algorithm, which determines the most relevant search results by identifying expert communities on the Web instead of simply displaying links by popularity. The combination of Morph and ExpertRank enables Ask.com to understand each person’s needs and provide them with what they want, faster.
More Information, Elegantly Displayed, All On One Page
Ask3D’s innovative three-panel design displays more customized results, taken from the best range of content available on the Web, all on one page. Representing the three dimensions of search, Ask3D’s panels include:
– “Query Expression†in the left panel. This panel serves as the search “control panel,†where people can quickly refine their search without ever having to leave the page by offering automatic suggestions to help narrow, expand or find related search terms. This service, called “Zoom Related Search,†is the number one most-used feature on Ask.com and relied on for more than 30 percent of all searches;
– “Results†within the center panel. Here, people can find their primary search results with links to Web pages and immediately preview sites directly from the results page by using an upgraded “Binoculars†feature, saving significant time and effort. Binoculars let people preview a Web page and are now 50 percent larger and faster than before. They also offer information such as the number of pop-ups on a given site, whether or not a site is Flash-based, and the amount of time it will take a site to load on a 56K connection. The top of this panel also shows the top Smart Answer, which provides quick snippets of information to help people get what they need, faster;
– “Content†within the right panel. This panel provides people with valuable information that goes beyond standard links to Web pages. The right panel offers a wide variety of content including images, news items, blogs, weather, time, videos and music clips. People can even preview videos and listen to music clips, right from the results page. Where most other major search engines serve ads in this area, Ask3D delivers even more content and continues to offer the fewest number of ads on a page.
Enhancing the Search Experience with New Innovations
Ask3D offers people additional new tools and features to make their search experience faster and easier:
– An All-New Homepage. Ask.com has a new homepage and offers customizable backgrounds that let people choose from a variety of designs to personalize their search experience. This summer, people will be able to upload their own images to customize their backgrounds even further. The new Ask.com also now features bold icons on the homepage to make it easier for people to search for specific content such as images, news and blogs. Additionally, Ask3D now offers search suggestions to help people more easily find what they need.
– See and Hear More, Right From the Results Page. People can now see video previews, listen to music clips, or even search through specific content such as images and news, all from the main results page. By simply hovering a mouse over video images, people can now preview video clips without having to navigate away from the page. People can listen to a music clip by simply clicking on the name of a song within the Ask3D results page. Also, Ask3D offers an image rollover feature, which enlarges an image so that people can see it in more detail.
– Location-Based Results. Ask3D now offers Smart Answer search results based on a person’s location. When people use Ask3D to search for “Starbucks,†they will see the locations nearest to them. When searching for “Gwen Stefani,†Ask3D lets people know when she is performing locally.
– Introducing Video Search. Now on Ask.com, people can find their favorite videos and preview clips right from the search results page. People can also filter results by video types, such as Flash, QuickTime and RealPlayer, or by length.
– Finding Images, Faster. With new filtering capabilities, people can now sort images by a wide range of categories including size, Buddy Icons, color, black and white and various media types.
For a complete list of features at Ask.com, please go to: http://about.ask.com/en/docs/about/site_features.shtml
June 5th, 2007
