is the day of search marketing history: January 23, 2003 //

Expedia acquires Travelocity

Expedia purchased rival Travelocity in 2015 for $280 million, amid slowing industry growth and pressure from other travel providers.

Expedia was actually powering Travelocity.com from 2013. The acquisition seemed very logical from both sides.

Expedia owned multiple online travel brands at the time: Hotwire, Hotels.com, eLong, Trivago, and eLong.

You can read all about it at Travel Search Consolidation – Expedia Purchases Rival Travelocity for $280M

This day, too


Neeva aims to increase user base by offering free subscriptions

2022 This was an alternative to the full-featured subscription that costs $4.95 per monthly.


Google removes “ads” and “sponsored” labels from flight search results

2020 Google wanted to reduce the number of referral fees for flight search partners, in order to promote price and convenience.


Google Dataset Search has gone into beta. New features have been added

2020: Google has added new features to Google Dataset Search in this rollout.


Video: Search pioneer Mike Grehan discusses everything, from the beginnings of SEO to AI’s role for paid and organic searches

2020: Barry Schwartz chatted with Grehan to discuss the early days and impact of technology on search. He also discussed how machine learning and AI are affecting search.


Amazon provides customer acquisition metrics for sponsored brands campaigns

2019 For Amazon sellers who are interested in video and display ad campaigns, the “new-to brand” set of metrics was also available.


Searchmetrics wins patent infringement case

2018 In a lawsuit against Searchmetrics, five patents claimed by BrightEdge as a SEO platform provider were invalidated by a federal judge.


Bing Hotel Ads are now available in general release with Koddi

2018: Bing Ads launched its Hotel Ads offering in beta at the end of 2017, and they were widely adopted.


Google adds book previews to its mobile search.

2017: Now you can read book previews from your smartphone using Google search.


Ed Roberts activist Google Doodle honored leader of the disability rights organization

2017 The Google Doodle was dedicated to Ed Roberts who co-founded the World Institute on Disability.


Now Available In Google Analytics

2015: Advertisers who use a different currency for AdWords and Analytics will now be able easily to compare cost data in Analytics.


PLAs Drove 56% Of Non-Brand Google AdWords Clicks In Q4 [RKG]

2015: Click Share also increased on Bing’s product ads. This is a double increase from Q3.


Pinterest Search Is Now Customized By Gender

2015: Pinterest changed its Guided Search system so that results differed based on gender.


News Aggregator SmartNews Reports Rapid Growth, Adds Local TV Channels

2015: local news was made available in 12 US cities including San Francisco and New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago.


Search in Pics: Google Glass Mug and Google Pool Table, & Gmail paper

2015 These images show what people eat at search engine companies, their play habits, where they go, what they eat, and what toys they own.


A Simple Way to Check Which Referrer Data Google Bing, Yahoo Or Bing Pass To Your Secure Site

2014 It was impossible to search for an HTTPS version (or “what is mine referrer”) of a website. So Barry Schwartz made one.


Google to Replace Smartphone User Agent To Improve Smart Phone Indexing

2014 The new smartphone user agent crawler would use robots.txt and robots meta tags, as well as HTTP header directives, to track Googlebot-Mobile instead.


MapQuest Moves Local Listing Management To Yext

2014: MapQuest informed business users that the MapQuest local business center, and basic local listings product, would be closing down.


Google Loses Again In AdWords Patent Infringement Case

2014 A judge ruled that patent-holding company Vringo was entitled for additional royalties from Google as a result of a patent infringement lawsuit involving Google AdWords.


Google Launches Streamlined ImageSearch

2013: The new system makes it much easier to quickly scan through multiple images than the old system, which required a lot more clicking and closing windows to return to the original system to select a new one.


New Tumblr Blog Raises Privacy Concerns Over Facebook Graph Search

2013 Examples search results that mixed comedy with creepiness


“Don’t Be Evil” Tool — Supported by Facebook & Twitter — Shows that Google’s “Search Plus Your World” Can Go Beyond Google+

2012 The developers of the tool felt that Google had lost sight of what was best for users using Search Plus Your World.


Google Search Results for Punctuation Marks

2012 Google used to ignore most punctuation marks in the past and didn’t provide any useful results.


Projecting 2012 Google Mobile Incomes: $4 billion or $6 billion?

2012 The range of mobile revenue for 2012 by Google was between $4 billion to $6 billion globally. The US figure would likely be slightly less than half.


A Proposal For Social Network Detente

2012 Here are some suggestions to avoid a social-nuclear conflict between Google, Twitter, and Facebook.


Are you looking for old versions of web sites? The Wayback Machine is a new and improved tool.

2011: the Wayback Machine was redesigned with a better user interface. It was also migrated to a new platform, which will allow for further improvements.


Google Will Push Semantic Search in 2009?

2009 “Wouldn’t it be nice for Google to understand the meaning of your phrase instead of just the words in that phrase?” Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, said that there are many discoveries in this area and that they will roll out within the next few weeks.


It’s no surprise that Google is the No. No. 1 Internet Property Worldwide

2009: Google reached 77% Internet users aged 15 or older in December 2008.


Google Maps: From a “OneBox” to Ten Local Links

2008: Google seemed serious about showing 10 local listings alongside the map and gradually phasing it into global results.


Google’s Mysterious Six Penalty

2008: Google’s Matt Cutts dismissed any discussion of a pattern in websites ranking in position 1 or 2 and falling to position 6 in Google.


Google’s Best Place to Work According To Fortune Magazine

2008: The second consecutive year.


Search Stocks and The Stock Crash: MSFT, YHOO, and GOOG.

2008: Google saw the largest decline of 19.5%. Yahoo came in second at 18.5%, while Microsoft was at 12.5%. Overall, the NASDAQ was at 15.5%.


Google Health Nearly Launched?

2008 Google Health login page was available, but the service was not yet live.


Baidu Relaunches In Japan

2008: Baidu revamped Japan’s homepage and added blog search to this launch.


South Korea to Google: Return our Cities From North Korea

2008: Google has classified some regions in South Korea under North Korea.


FTC Complaint filed over AskEraser: “Unfair and Deceptive”

2008: Multiple organizations asked the US Federal Trade Commission for a ruling on whether Ask used unfair or deceptive trade practices when marketing its tool.


Will the European Union Decide if IP Addresses are Personal?

2008 A head of an EU-led group investigating search privacy issues stated that Internet Protocol addresses should be treated like personal information.


Is There Anything More? Vivisimo’s Clustering Surfaces Subtler Results

2008: Mix clustering lets you click a link and quickly answer the question “What other, more subtler topics are out there?”


Google Adds RSS Shortcuts to Personalized Home Page

2007: Google placed plus signs next each RSS title. These would open to display a short excerpt of the post’s summary if clicked.


Google’s Site exclusion tool allows unlimited site exclusions

2007: Google has removed the limit on the number sites that you can exclude from the Site Exclusion Tool.


Google Takes Action to ‘Strip Confidential Information from Google Blacklist

2007 Google: “Procedures have been established to remove login information from any future submissions.”


Google to Test New Video Ads from BMG and Warner Music Group over AdSense Network

2007 The ads were to have been tested for four weeks.


Use Microsoft Live Search and Microsoft With Donate to Charity

2007: Microsoft stated that it would donate $1 per search for Team Seattle’s Children’s Hospital fund.


Google To Invest In Indian Companies Via Seedfund

2007: Google reportedly gave an undisclosed sum to Seedfund to indirectly invest in Indian technology.


Yahoo’s Panama Migration Mixed Reviews

2007 Although the reviews and opinions were generally positive, some small businesses experienced frustrations and problems.


TellMe to Launch a New Mobile Local Search Product

2007: This was a free, voice-enabled, direct-to–consumer directory assistance.


SEMPO Institute: Online School For SEMs Announced

2007: The Fundamentals Course went live. It offers 15+ tracks.

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 Search Marketing History: January 23 was first published on Search Engine Land.

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