is the 19th anniversary of search marketing history

Google removes ads from the right side of search results

Google removed ads from its desktop search results in 2016 (with two exceptions: Product Listing Ad Boxes and Knowledge Panel ads) in all languages worldwide.

Google Ads will only appear at the top or bottom of the page.

For “highly commercial queries”, Google would add an additional ad to the top of its organic search results.

This was the culmination of a test which began in 2010 and was significantly increased in 2015, mostly outside the U.S.

Official statement by Google on the change

We’ve been working on this layout for some time so it might not be visible to everyone. While we will continue to tweak the layout, this one is intended for highly commercial queries. The layout can provide more relevant results to people searching for them and better performance for advertisers.

It’s all here Confirmed: Google to Stop Showing Ads on Right Side of Desktop Search Results Worldwide

This day, too


Bing Announces Refreshed Bing Webmaster Tools

2020: This new toolkit promised to deliver a cleaner, faster, more responsive, and more actionable set features.


The vast majority of Amazon advertisers intend to spend more ads this year

2020: Specialist Amazon marketers and paid-search marketers were the most likely to manage campaigns on the platform, according to our survey.


Video by Rhea Drysdale – Hyperlocal SEO and saving clients money

2020: Starting a small business and digging into SEO to help clients win.


Google may use different ranking weights for YMYL-type queries

2019: Google confirmed that they will place more weight on Your Money, Your Life queries to factors such as authority, trustworthiness, and expertise.


Alexa Skills vs. Google Actions is the next big App Store fight

2019 Although there were many Skills and Actions, very few people used them.


Google changes request crawl limits, noting daily limitations versus monthly quotas.

2018: Google finally revealed the new recrawl limitations in a revised help file.


Google Maps now offers mall search and browse in the local panel

2018: Google has added a tab to the search results panel called “directory”.


Google Chrome extensions bring back ‘View Image & ‘Search by Image” buttons in Google Image Search

2018: Google has removed many popular features from image search. However, some Chrome extensions have brought back this functionality.


Keyword Infringement: Edible Arrangements files $209M trademark lawsuit against Google

2018 The claim was that users searching for “Edible Arrangements” (or variations thereof) were shown product ads for rivals such as 1-800-Flowers.


Webmasters – Be on the lookout for Hreflang Implementation Notifications from Google

2016: Google sent a lot of notifications to webmasters that had misplaced hreflang.


Google App Streaming Now Available For Many Apps Via the Try Now Button

2016: Before downloading apps, you can preview them directly from search results.


Search In Pics: Brett Dennen At Google, A Doctor’s Google Sign & Google Moving Boxes

2016 – These are the most recent images that show what people eat at search engine companies, their play habits, where they go, and what toys they own.


Google’s New Hacked Classifier Misclassifies Some Web Sites As Hacked

2015: Many websites saw that Google marked their sites as dangerous and hacked in search results. It was not their websites that were the problem, but rather the Google hacked site classifier.


Google AdWords Launches an Android App for Advertisers, But Only For Canadians

2015: Canadian Google AdWords marketers could download an Android application to manage their campaigns on the move. Google has promised that it will soon expand its support to other countries.


Google News Bug Drops Trending Topics From Side Bar Navigation

2015: We are working on a fix.


Google Mobile Search Places Publishers’ Content in Carousels

2015: Mobile users could quickly search topic-based content from one source using their mobile devices.


Get Food Delivery Online from Your Favorite Restaurants

2015 Search for a restaurant offering online ordering. Click the button to place an order online.


Google’s Matt Cutts: Backlink Relevancy Is A Big Win In Terms Of Search Quality

2014: Cutts replies: “Is it possible to have Google remove backlinks from its ranking factors?”


New Google Maps Comes Out Of Preview Today

2014: It was visually more compelling than the old Maps and had a wider range of enhanced features.


Google was a site that allowed users to order pizza through fax

2013: Sergey Brin explains how one failed fax enabled Google to be created.


Bing updates Friends’ photos Search with Windows Tiles Layout and Slideshow View

2013: These changes include a new title-like layout that you are used to when using Windows 8 and a slideshow viewing mode for quicker and richer photo viewing.


Burden Of Search UI Innovation Now Falls To Yahoo Veteran Laurie Mann

2013 – Laurie Mann was promoted to lead Yahoo Search.


Alibaba Creates Aliyun Search Engine To Challenge Baidu, Google In China

2013 Aliyun’s SERP was more similar to Google than the equivalent page on Baidu, China’s search leader.


ChaCha defeats Siri, Google, and Bing in “Answers Quality”. Study

2013: “ChaCha” consistently provided high quality answers across the broadest range of question types and categories.


Twitter Traffic up 9% thanks to Google

2010 The December addition of real-time search results to Google’s search interface had a significant impact on the number of people finding tweets through search results.


Google: We Did Not Recognize That Users Have Different Privacy Expectations.

2010: Google also revealed that, for every 15 users who click through to privacy preferences and preferences, “four users edit preferences”, one opts out, and ten do nothing.


Google Shopper – Scan Books, DVDs and Video Games, Bar Codes, & Get Prices

2010 The app could be pointed at books, CDs or DVDs and video games and barcodes to retrieve details about the product. It would also give you prices, reviews, and other information.


Google Adds Maps, Local Search For 30 Countries In Africa

2010: Customers could now locate local businesses.


Yahoo Formalizes Rich Ads In Search, Text Ads Gain Images Or Video

2009: Yahoo will officially announce Rich Ads In Search after close to a year of testing. This service places images and videos in paid ads within Yahoo’s search results.


Figure: Twitter Tests Adding Search to Main Navigation

2009: Tweet Search was incredibly popular even though most people didn’t know how to use it.


Official: Google to Enforce AdWords URL Policies Starting April 1

2008: It was required that the URL of the advertisement’s display match its destination URL.


Microsoft Signs a Long-Term Commitment to Search Even Without Yahoo

2008: Bill Gates stated that, with or without Yahoo!, the company would continue to invest in web search long-term to be competitive with Google.


Yahoo Makes Big Customer Satisfaction Gains In Search

2008: Yahoo praised the “Search Assist & Suggestions Ratings” metric. It appears to have outperformed Google based on its October introduction of Search Assist.


Google Earth Image Update: Spain Images

2008: This update included the imagery of the eastern border of Spain, which includes Barcelona.


China Government Slaps Baidu for Spreading “Filthy Pictures”.

2008: Internet users from China used Baidu to search for images of Edison Chen, an actor in China, and many other female stars performing sexual acts.


Topix To Create A Community For Local NBC Affiliates

2008: Topix has already done this for select newspapers and Gannett TV stations and claimed 100 media partners to its local news and/or communities features.


SES London 2008 Day One Recap


Google Sending Wikipedia A Ton Of Traffic

2007 Year-over-year, the percentage of Google’s downstream traffic to Wikipedia rose by 166%


Signs in Google Search Results

2007 Clicking the plus sign opened a Google Finance preview.

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 19 was first published on Search Engine Land.

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