(January 2007) Here is the latest issue of the Pandia Post newsletter. Go to www.pandia.com/sew for the online version of this news service.
Pandia’s most popular articles in 2006
We have taken stock of our inventory and using our web statistics software we can announce that the following articles were the most popular at Pandia in 2006:
Google buys online word processor (March 10)
Google’s acquisition of Writely was a major step towards Google becoming the online computing tool for everyone. Google Docs and Spreadsheets, as it is known as now, may ultimately become the Google Office of the web. Microsoft is not amused.
In the same spirit Google also launched it’s own online web page creator leading to another popular article: Google adds web site creator (Feb 28). See also: Top 5 Google services (Oct 5).
The multimedia search engine Quaero, Europe’s answer to Google (Jan 3)
Lars Våge’s article on French president Jacques Chirac’s attempt to save European culture from the barbarian hordes (i.e. American Google). In December we reported that the Germans have had enough and are abandoning ship.
Ask Jeeves becomes Ask.com (March 1 2006)
Microsoft's attempt to rebrand MSN Search as Windows Live Search has been a fiasco. Ask Jeeves, however, retired their butler and changed name to Ask without loosing a visitor.
Top 5 alternative search engines (Sept 17)
Everyone’s doing top 5/10/25 lists these days. It’s called link bait by the professional. We decided to make something useful out of the concept, and presented several surveys of online tools and sites. In this article we presented the best alternatives to Google, Yahoo! and MSN.
5 Firefox extensions that will change the way you search (Oct 12)
Another popular Top 5 article, this time covering plug ins for the Firefox web browser. A majority of Pandia’s readers are now using Firefox and other Mozilla browsers.
Ten steps to boost your AdSense commission (April 1)
Guest writer Kalena Jordan told our readers how to make the most out of Google’s Adsense program, whereby web sites owners may earn some extra bucks presenting Google ads on their sites.
The AllofMP3 music search store - MP3 crime or creativity? (May 17)
The Russian authorities have now promised that they will close down the very popular MP3 download site AllofMP3. It has not happened yet, though. Pandia looked at AllofMP3 and online music sales in general.
Google buys the French National Library (April 1)
Our April 1st joke was a hit in Europe. Our American readers did not refer to it, though. Strange…
Ms. Dewey presents a new sexy search engine (Oct 21)
Microsoft surprised us in October, presenting a very seductive and animated version of their Windows Live Search engine. It is pretty funny, although not very useful from a search perspective. The word sexy probably brought us a few extra visitors.
Google and Yahoo! give webmasters a helping hand (Aug 27)
Google and Yahoo! have become much better at providing support and information to webmasters in 2007. In this article Pandia presented the new webmaster support portals, with help files, blogs, discussion forums and tools.
What we want from Google this Christmas (Dec 12)
Our Christmas wish list was read by Google’s Matt Cutts, who liked it very much. We would like to believe it contributed to the subsequent changes on the Google home page. Blog Search is now one of the alternatives in the “more…” pull down menu.
Top 5 social bookmarking services (Nov 28)
In 2007 we have definitely seen the need to include Web 2.0 social community tools in our analysis of the online search scene. This article on the best online social bookmarking services is now listed in the Wikipedia.
See also: SEOmoz’s 2006 Stats in Review
Marketing Pilgrim’s Top 10 Posts of 2006
New articles this week:
Pandia starts the new year with three new articles:
11 Reasons Why You Should Consider a Job in Search Engine Marketing
Are you currently seeking employment? Looking for a new profession? Considering a career change? Then a job in the field of Search Engine Marketing should be at the top of your list. Here are 10 reasons why.
The Aviva Web Directory
Many have predicted the demise of web directories, arguing that most searchers prefer automatically generated search engine results to listings hand-picked by humans. There is much to be said for directories, though. Not only are they especially useful for more general searches, they also help sites rank better in search engine results.
Search Wikia: The hype, some facts and what’s to come
Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia fame makes a storm revealing plans for a wiki inspired search engine.
From the Pandian archives.
Selected stories from the past two months.
Google Blog Search the most popular blog search engine
As Google overtakes Technorati as the most popular blog search engine, Pandia discusses the pros and cons of blog searching.
Quintura for Kids
Quintura is a visual search engine technology that makes use of Yahoo’s index. It presents search results in an interface that is truly different. Your search term is at the center of a ’search cloud’ surrounded by related terms that can help you narrow your query. Now this interface is available in i special version for kids.
European search engine project in trouble
Germany pulls out of the European Quaero search engine project and sets up its own. Fast leads alternative development project.
Don’t worry too much about duplicate content, Google says
Google Blog tells webmasters how to cope with duplicate content.
Time Magazine celebrates participatory media
You are Time’s person of the year. That is, if you contribute content to the web through one of the many quite new and hugely popular folksonomy sites like Wikipedia, YouTube and MySpace.
Yahoo! gives away desktop search for enterprises
Yahoo! and IBM OmniFind to offer free enterprise search software.
Danny Sullivan to launch search engine conference series
Danny Sullivan to compete with Incisive in the search engine conference marketplace.
Ask goes local with AskCity
Ask.com launches local search with maps for the US.
Google Answers is dead
Google abandons its answer project.
PageBull — new visual metasearch engine
The Pagebull metasearch engine presents results as images of the listed web pages.
Google News in trouble - again
Google gets into trouble with its new Scandinavian versions of Google News.
Danny Sullivan leaves Search Engine Watch and starts his own blog on search engines and search engine marketing.
Pandia welcomes backgammon site Play65 as new sponsor
Play65, and its online backgammon affiliate program, becomes the latest Pandia sponsor.
Healia and Kosmix: Search engines for health information.
Pandia presents two specialized search engines for health information: Healia and Kosmix.
Mastering pay-per-click search engine marketing
Pandia takes a look at pay-per-click text ad promotion and a book on PPC search engine marketing.
Make your own search engine with Google Custom Search
Pandia adds vertical search engine for searching search oriented sites. Read more about the new Google Custom Search tool.
How do researchers search for electronic journal articles to support academic tasks
A recent case study analyzes the use of the Finnish National Electronic Library (FinELib). Specifically, the study looks at how academic status and discipline influence the search strategies used by university academic staff.
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