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45 Comments
- thewebguy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+25what an ignorant statement.
can you not still go to http://www.google.com and use it regularly?
you are comparing google to yahoo becuase it adds more features? yahoo didn't just add more features, it added a lot of stupid crap and a messy homepage. google's homepage is still the same (basically) and their search functions the same way. - elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21I don't think Google Ad-sense is a blight on the internet, In fact, its ads are the least intrusive of all ads I've seen, and sometimes I even click on them because I want to see what they're about.
A Google ad banner is far better than a giant flashing flash animation banner, or anything of that sort. - krewemaynard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Google killers are the same as iPod killers....they don't work. You have to do something different and creative. Google's ads are different because they were relevant and because they were text--they didn't pop-up anything, blink, flash, or talk to you. They present ads relevant to what you're seeing. If MSN and Yahoo want to dethrone Google, they're going to have to innovate, not ride Google's coattails.
- thewebguy, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17way to say it wrong
- cleverboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10AdSense is the reversal of years of more and more "multimedia" ads that jump, blink, and flicker people into epeleptic fits. To say "AdSense" is a blight, is to ignore the truth. Sites need to earn revenue. It was great that Amazon created a "donate" feature for webmasters, and its great that Google opened up a nice, non-obstrusive banner alternative for sites to make money directly.
Also, Google will always be ahead of MSN and Yahoo, because the other two have "search" as an "also ran" feature, that attempts to balance with all their other options. In almost all cases, Google's offerings are a way of organizing the world's information "SEARCHING", whereas MSN and Yahoo attempt to CREATE and PUBLISH the world's information. That, in my opinion, will always be a huge difference. Calendars are yet another way of organizing information... by events and time. The "finance" section organizes information (news) by stock data. While people want to insist Google has become a "portal", I think its an important note, that if they are.. then they're a NEW type of portal, wholly different from MSN.
I'm sure Gmail would not exist (or exist much less as a service), if there was a reliable, standard way for Google to interface with a variety of third party web mail services. Google will likely never make any offering it has the "exclusive" was to find something (usually offering its own "local" or "mapping" services alongside Yahoo and/or Mapquest). It's video service is so demonstrably different than any other offering out there, it seems to be one of Google's only "quarantined" services (different in allowing paid content and full length movies, YouTube has been downgrading mostly smaller productions, and nothing "paid").
MSN is mostly a copycat, and Yahoo's goals are focused on developing "communities" and "social networks". Applying Google "information organizing" paradigm without becoming a wholesale "publisher" is a dance Google will continue to do. To that end, they've purchased other brands to insure they have options though (Dodgeball, Picassa, Hello, Blogger).
My bet is that Google.com will always be as simple as we need it. My two cents. - skeet07, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8" Google, meanwhile, seems largely unfazed by its scrambling competitors."
Google's response: Cause' I'm the Juggernaught bitch! - Doggpound, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Googles ad's are so great because they are just their you can see them but they do not get in the way and always pertain to what you are looking for. Personally I hate ad's but googles I really do not mind.
- spacebar14, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Anyone notice the 9 different flash-banner ads on that site? Disgusting...
- accidental, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6As an advertiser we work with both Google and Yahoo. Let me say, there is no comparison whatsoever. Yahoo's product is so far behind Google's it isnt even funny. Talking about their advertising tools that is. So... /agree with @iceduck.
That and the idea that you can buy your natural search results (supposedly unpaid, legitimate crawler results) at Yahoo is shady to me. - zirtbow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4With Google I never get the "You visitor # 50 million.. you win a prize" or "Click here for a free xbox/ps2/hooker". Thats reason enough for me to use google over going to any other webpage. (I know you don't see those types of ads on Yahoo but still adsense ads > yahoo ads).
- Iceduck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Having used both AdWords and Overture I have to say that Yahoo!/Overture is a joke. Totally backwards and confusing UI and mediocre click-throughs.
MSN's biggest problem is that it's an awful search engine, especially in non-English languages. - neave, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Yahoo's and MSN's current ad publishing systems are utter pants compared to the simplicity of AdSense. Fingers crossed the upcoming revamps will sort the situation out so we can have a choice of our ad suppliers rather than just defaulting to Google.
- JoeWall, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5people hate ads. see adblock for firefox, or tivo for tv
- Durrok, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Firefox adblock does just as nice of a job... I literally have not seen an ad in over a year. When I have to use IE to go to some pages it's a real shock to see ads on the page.
- starmanjones, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4google has been the good guy in all this... politics of net corruption. i've always been doubtful that a company a publicly traded company could maintain a good guy status. google is definately trying to instill a culture ethics and activism for things right and i will support them until they turn sour. then... well... i guess i'd still use them. but i wish there was a way to make sure they get positive feed back for the political stands they are taking...
- IQ70, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3All of technology goes up and down in cycles. Soon yhoo and msft will provide ads which look like google ads. Soon they will collect the same info that google has been collecting. And soon all search engines will have the same top-100 results.
Then Google will have to come up with something new. They are sitting on a pot of money that is being unused to drive up their stock prices right now. They need to reinvest in stuff people have been asking for like an office suite, an operating system, a browser. But seeing the way google makes its own software (not picasa or google maps both of which were bought) which pretty much suck (think google talk) there doesnt seem to be a way they will be able to pull complex softwares off. - muyuu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4The reality is most people don't bother to install adblock. The sites I care about, I support them. Those I don't care about or ***** too many multimedia ads on me, I stop going.
- Hungryhaney, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6@Valo Reading both your comments I find yours to be by far more rude. Plus while Calendar was just released it is quite usable. I can see how somebody not using anything like an organizer would not see its usefulness ...
- nathan8225, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Both Yahoo and MSN will throw almost their entire budget at getting ads right, then when they fail they will use the rest of the budget. Finaly when they realize they cannot compete they will put Google ads on their pages.
- mistshadow2k4, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Part of the problem here is that they are ignoring a large chunk of their fans -- geeks. And many of those geeks are running some flavor of *nix and wouldn't want something like Picassa even if it did run on *nix. So far, most of Google's software has been the run-of-the-mill stuff there are already a million varieties for Windows, which geek sconisder inane. Geeks have been clamoring for them to port Google Earth over to *nix but Google has continued to ignore them.
Google seems to be under the impression that geeks, especially *nix-using geeks, aren't a large enough target audience to market their software to, but Google got where they are now partly because of the demogrpahic they're ignoring. But they continue with this, ignoring the *nix-users who helped popularize them in the first place and producing Windows software that Windows-using geeks consider lame.
The people Google is aiming their stuff at rarely use Google at all because MSN is IE's default search engine, so what do those sorts of Windows-users care about Google?They don't, they just use whatever MS built into Windows and never bother with anything else anyway. Google could come out with the best media player ever tomorrow and their target audience would just keep using WMP because it's built into Windows.
So, to summarize, it's dumb marketing. Google is ignoring the people who made them what they are today in order to capture market share among Microsofties, but they're not interested. It's going to take more than dumbed-down software like Picassa and the Google Pack to convert Microsofties.They'd have to come out with something as amazing as Photoshop or something much better than MS Office and make it cheap to do that. The market is already too crowded and they're not doing anything better than the unknown shareware and freeware companies. - nathan8225, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Re:sid333
and Yahoo doesn't spy on you??? You have obviously not been reading digg lately. - matt0ne, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Of course if you are running a browser like Camino and switch all the ads off, then you don't have to deal with any of this - ah, what a breath of fresh-air.
- stinkipete, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I like the way you beat your chest with 2 hands making a letter G...;)
- mistshadow2k4, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Well, we knew that was going to happen the minute they became a publicly-traded company, didn't we? Apparently that "don't be evil" philosophy wasn't all that important to begin with, because they knew good and well they couldn't follow it and be a publicly-traded company at the same time. So it was probably all BS from the start, just a marketing line aimed at people who are (justifiably) disgusted with companies like Microsoft and Yahoo. Google has tried to remain a little better so as to keep that edge, but as we've seen form them entering the Chinese market, "don't be evil" goes straight out the window when it comes to money. Guess that should teach everyone a lesson about believing a corporation.
- stormist, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I am strangely satisfied to see Yahoo and MSN search go down in flames while Google kicks their asses.
- remcgregor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"people hate ads. see adblock for firefox, or tivo for tv"
So? Content publishers and web property owners need to make money somehow. Should everyone be given a free ride?
Plus, considering 90% of the world's population use Internet Explorer, I doubt more than 2 or 3% of the world's population uses, or even knows about, adblock. - MasterDwarf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1A good example of competition in the free market place. Let Google run wild and have the competition try to fight it. It was said above, they will need to innovate and not just implement their own version of google ads. If they innovate the consumer will win.
- PadreJim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@mistshadow2k4
>Part of the problem here is that they are ignoring a large chunk of their fans -- geeks.
That isn't a problem from the big G's vantage. Geeks are valuable as early adopters; we all pick up the cool and nifty stuff long before the mainstream, and we stress test everything. We are the ultimate public beta pool.
But geeks also only make up a small sliver of the pie. Google is correct in ignoring us at this point, from a corporate perspective. We are more discerning, more protective of our privacy and are far better informed than the average web user. In short, we are a tough sell for any company's revenue strategies, and our relatively low numbers put us even further down the desirability list.
>But they continue with this, ignoring the *nix-users who helped popularize them in the first place and producing Windows software that Windows-using geeks consider lame.
Yes, because we've (in this case) outlived our usefulness to them.
>So, to summarize, it's dumb marketing. Google is ignoring the people who made them what they are today in order to capture market share among Microsofties, but they're not interested.
It's INTELLIGENT marketing. Why pursue the wants of a small fraction of your total consumer base, particularly when that fraction is extra-critical. Google is doing all the right things to remain a solvent, powerful corporation.
You'll note I never said I *liked* it, just that what they're doing is *smart*, despite what you said. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"google is definately trying to instill a culture ethics and activism for things right and i will support them until they turn sour."
Like in China eh?! - modshark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1to some typing google is as familiar as typing their own name.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I use Yahoo's Publisher system, and it pays far more than AdSense, and essentially works the same. It does not have as great of reporting, but oh well.
Another thing they've got that Google doesn't is a kind of "hint" for the ad, so you can select a high-level category for the page if you want, and guide the type of ads that show.
The checks cash, and they're bigger than my AdSense ones were by at least twice, so I'll deal with the reports they have.
Regardless of which people prefer, it will benefit everyone to have ad networks competing, we'll get a larger and larger piece of the revenue generated. - IQ70, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Try Ad Muncher on IE.
- zoombug, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I thought yahoo backed out like 5 or more months ago from competing with google and accepted second place.
No, they said they were playing a different game than Google is, and never were trying to beat Google in Search. Yahoo isn't a search engine. - jbjo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0No, google ads work work because they get exposure. The reason they get exposure is because most people have linked "find information" with "google" in their brain, essentially making google the intellectual firewall for everything.
Whether they have an intention to "do good" doesn't really matter. Neither Microsoft or IBM told their employees to "do bad things" in their day. No one has the intention do bad things, and good/bad are relative. - dbkoen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This same discussion seems to reappear over and over again and aspects of it always confound me.
1) Yes, Google has a cleaner homepage than Yahoo!, but Yahoo! has a very clean search page here: http://search.yahoo.com/. It's similar in many ways to Google's home page. Yahoo! can't really afford to stop offering a portal style home page because it has millions of visitors who expect it to continue to look the same. That's why there's more than one way into Yahoo's services.
2) I can understand people saying Google's search results are better, because historically they were. But these days they're really not anymore. Sometimes the two search engines give different results, but in my experience, by and large I can get what I want from either. You may disagree, of course. Compare the results here: http://www.gahooyoogle.com . Granted, that's not a reason to stop using Google. With Google's existing market share and position as the de facto default, Yahoo will probably have to do better than "just as good" to gain traction.
3) The little, unobtrusive ads that so many of you give Google credit for inventing were actually pioneered by Overture, now called Yahoo Search Marketing. Google appropriated the idea from Overture and eventually settled a patent infringement lawsuit about it: http://www.techuser.net/gcoverup.html .
4) What Google did bring to the picture that Overture did not have (or at least did not do well) was the AdSense network of publishers, which relies heavily on the ability to find ads relevant to the content of the publisher's page. But the brilliant techies at Google didn't invent that either--they acquired Applied Semantics, a Los Angeles based startup that was at the time partnered with Overture. See here: http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/applied.html and here: http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/2195901
5) Yes, Yahoo! has big banner ads on some of its pages. No, those banner ads don't appear in search results. Just like Google, the little unobtrusive ads appear when you search.
6) I'm not an advertiser so I may not understand their priorities, but it seems to me that any advertiser who ignores Yahoo's advertising network because they don't like the advertiser UI is making a big mistake. Assuming that the cost per conversion for each network is about the same (which they may not be; I don't know), then there's no reason not to advertise on both.
7) But the biggest thing I'll never understand is the bizarre cult-like way that people defend Google and demonize its competitors. It's Macintosh vs Windows or Sega vs Nintendo or any other number of ridiculous arguments. Your chosen horse is not as saint-like as you make it out to be, nor is the enemy as evil and demonic. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Look at this http://digg.com/technology/New_Search_Engine_by_People
- shit, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I looked out my bathroom window after getting out of the shower and I saw Google in the bushes with some binoculars.
And Google was SPANKING IT.
...I was quite flattered, actually. - TruXter, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0I for one want some microsoft money.......
I was kicked off of addsense in the first few months of it running, some punk ran a script that generated 20000000000 clicks in under 3 minutes wich made me look like I was doing it... hopefully microsoft or yahoo can prevent that from happening...
with that said....
I thought yahoo backed out like 5 or more months ago from competing with google and accepted second place.
so this person's info... is a year old and a tad wrong. - Pigglesworth, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Yup.... The one thing Microsoft needs is more revenue. Especially if it's at the expensive of a competitor, then it's all the more sweeter. However I do believe they will fail to crack *makes "G" letter with both hands and solemnly beats chest, shouting* GOOGLE. I would also like to welcome our new *makes "G" letter with both hands and solemnly beats chest, shouting* GOOGLE overlords.
- bonoes, on 10/12/2007, -9/+5Agret said it right... and still got dugg down. Maybe you tards should quit saying that stupid /. saying? Hmm.
- sid333, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2Yahoo is much better, I hope they Kill Google. Google sucks, all they do is spy on you.
- Agret, on 10/12/2007, -17/+7I one for one welcome our new Google overlords
- SoulMaster2, on 10/12/2007, -23/+7I for one welcome our Google masters
- Valo, on 10/12/2007, -27/+10You can see that when google released its figures is about the same time they started to work at all of its applications. Now its becoming nothing more then another Yahoo or Msn. I like Google because of its simplicity.
- Valo, on 10/12/2007, -31/+9What I'm saying is google is pushing mediocre products when you can get stuff that's 10 times better else where. And your not saying Google Calender isn't crap. The only thing google has produced that's useful is Google Maps. Now I know your going to say "But what about google add sense" Let me tell you about Google Ad-sense, its a blight on the Internet. Sure you can go to Google's homepage and it looks all nice but you go other websites google has banners up everywhere. Okay I was wrong its not like yahoo, for the most part (other then Geo-city) yahoo carp stays on its site where google is just taking over the Internet. Plus, why do you have to be so rude. I mean you could have just come out and say, "well I think your wrong". Just because your typing on a computer 1000's of miles away doesn't mean you can't be polite.
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