is the 28th anniversary of search marketing history

R.I.P. DMOZ

DMOZ, the Open Directory Project which used human editors to organize websites, announced its closure in 2017.

DMOZ was largely forgotten by this point as a resource. The biggest surprise was the time it took.

DMOZ was created in June 1998 under the name “GnuHoo”, then quickly changed to “NewHoo,” which was a rival to Yahoo Directory. In November 1998, Netscape acquired it and renamed it the Netscape Open Directory. AOL later acquired Netscape in November 1998, giving AOL control over The Open Directory.

RIP DMOZ: The Open Directory Project closes.

This day, too


The number of new business openings is almost equal to pre-pandemic levels. Yelp reports

2022 But, the majority of major cities saw a decline in openings.


Etsy sellers will pay 30% more transaction fees starting in April

2022 A substantial portion of the fees raised would be reinvested in the market.


Firefox gets a new extension from Google Lighthouse

2020 Firefox hadn’t yet reviewed the extension so it was automatically classified as “not recommended”.


Recommendations, Optimization scores and their impact on Google Partner agencies

2020: Google stated that Partner agencies will continue to have “control” and autonomy as it focuses more on auto-generated recommendations.


Google has introduced a new nofollow link treatment.

2020: Google was going to treat the nofollow link attribute for crawling and indexing as a hint rather than a directive.


Google experiments using public search profile cards

2020: Limited to India, this Google+-like function gave individuals and brands some control over search results.


Yelp’s improved waitlist functionality for restaurants is a result of a feature war with Google

2020: Yelp had just launched its Notify Me feature. This supported Yelp Waitlist.


Google’s search engine results page (CTR) is exactly what you would expect. This is why SEOs are so successful

2019 Could Google make it clear that they do not use CTR in their core search algorithm? No.


Google opens a complaint form to crackdown on fake information in Maps

2019: Google has launched the Business Redressal Complaint Form for users and searchers to report fraudulent activity related to Google Maps businesses.


Amazon offers Sponsored Products through AmazonFresh to CPG brands

2019 Brands of consumer packaged goods could expand their campaigns to include products that are sold through AmazonFresh.


The first Multifaceted featured Snippets start rolling out in Google Search Results

2018: Multifaceted featured Snippets will be displayed for queries sufficiently broad to allow more than one interpretation.


Rand Fishkin departs Moz to announce a new start up

2018: Fishkin, after 17 years at the company he founded, was now starting a new company that focuses on audience intelligence and influencers.


Study: 11 Voice Search Ranking Factors Analyzed

2018 63.6% voice search results did not use Schema.


Google offers SEO tips for managing day-long site closings

2017: Tips by John Mueller from Google on what to do if your website needs to be temporarily disabled and you are worried about your Google rankings.


Natural News has been added to Google’s index after a rare Google confirmation that it had been penalized on-site.

2017: HealthNews.com confirmed that it was reinstated in the Google Index after it was deindexed last week.


Official: Google Adds Menus to Search Results

2014: Google has announced that it now shows restaurant menus in a OneBox-style solution at the top of its U.S. searches.


Mobile App Download Campaigns with AdWords. Get deeper reporting in Google Analytics

2014: The Reports on Mobile App Campaign Performance include day parts, destination URLs, and keyword positions.


Twitter Showing how Google Itself is a “Scraper Website”

2014: Dan Barker ran a search for “what is a scraper website?”. This brought up Google’s web definition at the top, which technically outranked the original source.


New Bing Ads Editor Version Now Available

2014: The Browser pane now allows you to rename ads groups and campaigns.


Search in Pics: Yahoo’s 19th birthday cake, Google Jugglers and Canadian KitKat Android Statue

2014 These are the most recent images that show what people eat at search engine companies, their play habits, who they talk to, what toys and what they own.


Google Testing Android/Chromebook-Like Navigation Element For Web Site

2013: Google tested a new navigation method to locate all Google products and services.


Facebook Shares How People Are Using Graph Search: Finding Friends Tops List

2013: Facebook offered some alternatives to that for users who used the new search function.


Bing Maps Adds Variety Of Hi-Res Image Improvements

2013 Bing was highlighting the “top of world” imagery, those high-resolution, top-down images.


Majestic SEO Now Supports 9 Languages

2013 They currently support English, Chinese and Spanish as well as French, Spanish, German, Italian, Polish and Brazilian Portuguese.


A new German law will allow search engines to free “snippets”, but there is still uncertainty

2013 A German copyright law would not require search engines such as Google to pay for short summaries about news content. Uncertainty remained over how much would be considered “too high” and whether a license was required.


UK Officials threaten legal action against people posting photos of convicted killer in another “Right to Be Forgotten” case

2013 UK AttorneyGeneral Dominic Grieve threatened legal action against anyone who posted photos of Jon Venables, convicted murderer, online.


Bing Webmaster Tools API Now Available

2012 This feature enabled webmasters to use Bing WMT data from other locations.


Microsoft and Nokia Unify Maps on PC, Mobile

2012: Microsoft relied heavily on the Nokia-Navteq data infrastructure and mapping. Nokia had made Ovi Maps look more Bing-like.


Google: Mobile Growth Is Faster Than Expected

2011, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google said that consumers have adopted the company’s mobile services faster than expected.


Videos of The First Googleplex

2011: Videos of the old Google office were posted in November 1999.


Social Media + Search Increases CTR by 94 Percent. Report

2011 Nearly 60% cases that resulted in a purchase were initiated by search. Social media has played an increasing role during consideration, and especially after purchase.


AT&T Launches Geo-Fenced Mobile “ShopAlerts”,

2011 This was opt in push marketing via SMS and MMS tied to geo-fences.


Google Webmaster Tools: Now On Your iGoogle Homepage

2008 Rather then logging into your Webmaster Tool account, you can add the Webmaster tools gadget to your iGoogle Page and gain access to information.


Google Sites launches: Jotspot is replaced by Team Sharing Software

2008: Google launched Google Sites. It is basically a relaunched Jotspot, but with many additional features.


Google Health Announced This Morning

2008: Google stated that it will not sell personal consumer information. Ads could be placed on pages that aren’t part the consumer health profile.


Google Maps Tailgates Yahoo! Microsoft With Real-Time Traffic Information

2007 Google Maps is now able to add live traffic reporting for the United States on their online mapping service.


Google Stepping Up Governmental Sales

2007: Google launched a two-day event to sell products to the U.S. government. It reportedly attracted “200 federal contractors and engineers” as well as uniformed military personnel.


Google Buys TV Scatter Units

2007: Google wanted to hire a national TV sales head in New York. They also wanted to get into TV ad play using “scatter inventory,” which is ads that weren’t sold in advance.


Yahoo Offers NOYDIR Opt Out Of Yahoo Directory Titles and Descriptions

2007 Yahoo could tell you to stop using Yahoo Directory information to create a title or description for your web site listings.


40% Frustrated with Video Search

2007: 32% stated that web video has too many commercials.


TellMe About Your Voice and Mobile Search Company,

2007: The scoop: It was. Microsoft purchased it March 14,.


Monitoring Buries At Digg

2007: New monitoring technique.


Keane Head Of Advertising Strategy At Google Moves To CBS Interactive

2007 Patrick Keane, who was with Google for four years and was responsible for the development and management of strategic plans and building relationships that would allow Google to grow its advertising customer base.


February 2007: Search Engine Land’s Most Popular Stories

2007: 10 Most Popular Stories from February 2007.

Search Marketing Expo ( , SMX).

Past contributions by Search Engine Land’s Subject matter Experts (SMEs).

These columns represent a snapshot of time. They have not been updated since publication, except where noted. These articles do not reflect Search Engine Land’s views.

Search Marketing History

The post This Day in Search Marketing History: February 28 was first published on Search Engine Land.

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