This Day In Search Marketing History: January 15

Here comes the Facebook Blueprint Search

In 2013, Facebook announced a new experience called Graph Search.

Facebook Graph Search relied heavily on likes and other connections to determine what would be shown in the most relevant search results for each user.

At launch, Facebook Graph Search only included people, photos, places, and interests.

Facebook Graph Search was not a traditional web search engine like Google or Bing. It was a new kind of search: the social search engine. Back then, Facebook used Bing for its web search results.

Dig deeper:

Less than two years later, Facebook quietly removed results from Bing, and Facebook saw less than Graph Search. Graph Search apparently died on June 7, 2019. According to a Facebook spokesperson:

"The majority of people on Facebook use keywords, which has led us to turn off certain aspects of graph search and focus on improving keyword research. We work with searchers to make sure they have the tools they need to use our platform to use.
- Joseph Cox, Vice, "Facebook is quietly changing the investigative tool used by researchers that companies have abused."

Even on this day

LinkedIn launches LinkedIn Marketing Labs on-demand courses for advertisers

2021 - Courses cover the basics, including Introduction to LinkedIn Ads, How to Use LinkedIn Ad Targeting, and Reporting and Analytics for LinkedIn Ads.

Amazon Sponsored Products ads now support dynamic bidding and bid adjustments

2019: Advertisers can choose automatic bids and adjust search ad bids based on page position.

EU copyright directive ends after Google tests SERPs for small news

2019: The directive sought to "harmonize" copyright law across Europe.

Find DuckDuckGo maps and addresses with Apple Maps

2019: The company used OpenStreetMap.

To fix Google reverse search error

2018: The "Pages with identical images" section did not display thumbnails correctly.

Martin Luther King Jr. 2018 Google Doodle honors Dr. King and his dream of a better world

2018: Image designed by guest artist Cannaday Chapman and created in collaboration with the Black Googlers Network.

Google is testing "hot topics" and "nearby places" as search options in Android

2016 - In addition to recent searches, Google added "topics of interest" and "nearby" options to the dropdown menu.

Discover in photos: Justin Trudeau in Google's new office in Canada, Google Expeditions Subaru and Fallout 4 in the US.

2016: The latest images from the web show what people in research companies eat, how they play, who they hang out with, where they talk, what toys they own, and more.

Google's Knowledge Graph now shows brands' social profiles

Google has started showing links to the social profiles of Pixar, Apple, Starbucks, Google and many other brands.

Search is the primary content discovery tool for mobile users.

2015: 54% of respondents said search is the best way to find mobile content/websites.

Smartphones accounted for 40% of US search ad spending in Q4 [Marin]

2015: The desktop influence, which was still dominant, began to wane

Google is updating its structured data testing tool, documentation, and syntax support

2015: Google has a new and improved structured data testing tool, updates documentation and guidelines, and adds more branding support.

You will no longer be able to share ads through the AdWords Shared Library.

2015: This feature will be removed on February 11th.

Google wants webmaster feedback on web search and webmaster tools

2015: Google asked, "What would you like to see from Google Web Search and Webmaster Tools in 2015?"

The Google Events Knowledge Graph adds links to tickets, delegation events, comedy events, and local events.

2015: Google made four updates to the event recognition graph after Markup launched in March 2014.

Google is updating its Maps app by adding filters for restaurants and more

2015 - Google Maps app adds filters for cuisine type and other features for iOS and Android users.

Google's Matt Cutts: We don't have different algorithms for different website services

2014: Google's Matt Cutts answers the question "Are results in different places ordered by different algorithms?" Spoiler alert: The answer was no.

Rand Fishkin resigns as CEO of Moz Corporation and Sarah Bird resigns as CEO

2014 : The end of an era: It was Fishkin's last day as CEO of Moz.

Report: Search Engines Drive 40% of Holiday Traffic to Retailers' Websites

2014 - Although Experian still accounts for the largest share, it reported that search engines saw a 13% decrease in the amount of traffic coming to merchants when comparing their year-over-year traffic data.

Bing ends 2013 with highest US market share, but Google also climbs [comScore]

2014: Google's share of search queries grew by 0.6% to 67.3% in December 2013.

The European Union wants more support for search, and Google is challenging French authorities

2014: European Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia said Google must submit more revised proposals within a few weeks to avoid formal antitrust action.

Was Lowe's the first brand to adopt gelatin?

2014: What we know: Answered at least one question about mounting artwork on a brick wall.

Links in press releases have a ranking advantage despite what Google says

2013: The time blogger [srepleasers] Matt Cutts started ranking on Google.

Report: Global spending on paid search results increased by 18% in 2012

2013: This growth trend was just below the 21% annual growth rate recorded for 2011.

77% of Healthy Online Searches Start on Search Engines [Pew Study]

2013: Significantly more than 13% started on healthcare portals such as WebMD, general information sites such as Wikipedia (only 2%) and social media (1%).

6th Google Contest "Doodle 4 Google": "My best day..."

2013: The winner will win a $30,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 technology scholarship for their school, and their logo will be featured on the Google homepage.

Yext "reinvents the local business listing" with new rich content options

2013: And they called it... PowerListings+.

89% of search engines find good information, but "noise" is a problem

2011: 13% said they couldn't find what they were looking for. The answers were there, the "signal" that people wanted to tune in. They were surrounded by a lot of noise.

comScore: Bing Share Up - Will It Beat Yahoo? Also, Ask.com sales speculative returns

2010: ComScore Search Share data for December 2009: Yahoo 17.3%, Bing 10.7%. (Google? was at 65.7%)

Amazon targets UK affiliates using search marketing techniques

2010: Amazon said it would no longer pay referral fees to partners who referred users through keyword bidding or any other search engine or major search networks.

OneRiot has launched the RiotWise ad network for real-time search

2010 - The launch followed a beta phase that the company said allowed developers to monetize mobile apps, desktop clients, social search engines and similar applications.

Carol Bartz's "Gut" could prevent Yahoo Search from being sold to Microsoft

2009: Bartz said his instincts or "gut" weren't necessarily for sale, although he had to dig into the issues and the economy to make a better decision.

Microsoft's job cuts could happen next week

2009: The cuts are believed to be "well below 15,000 jobs."

Yahoo and Wikipedia are showing some SearchMonkey love

2009: Wikipedia SearchMonkey is launched by default for all Yahoo search users, making it the sixth app (along with Linkedin, Yelp, Yahoo Local, Citysearch and Zagat) that all search engines can see.

TweetNews: Yahoo developer merges news search and Twitter

2009: TweetNews was a new search engine that used Twitter's hot topics to add relevance and freshness to news searches.

Google directory update showing 'real' PR results?

2008 - Google Directory results are significantly higher than those displayed on the Google Toolbar.

Microsoft and MediaCart offer ad targeting in shopping carts

2008 - Microsoft partners with MediaCart to target behavioral advertising in stores and introduces the concept of "location-based services" in store aisles using RFID tags.

Google Maps is used to engage political and activist volunteers

2008: How candidates, campaigners and third parties used Google Maps and the Maps API to display their messages and organize political activists and volunteers in the upcoming primaries.

Bidders for Spectrum Wireless have been accepted, and the auction will begin on January 24th

2008: Among the bidders: Google, AT&T, Verizon and MetroPCS.

Research indicates Top 5 entries, not Top 10, and search engines may need to highlight official sites

2007: Among the discoveries: Search marketers had to worry more about being in the top five than being in the top ten if they wanted to be seen.

See other related Google searches at the bottom of the page

2007: Multiple search engines provided a set of eight suggested searches as links under "Related Searches" and then returned the original search term.

Consider Microsoft's search long game

2007: "It's exhausting to hear that Microsoft's leadership is failing Google rather than delivering successes that speak for themselves."

Microsoft Live and Yahoo Push for Firefox users revisited and the IE7 Search Battle

2007 - Many search engines tried to allow users to have their default choice.

SEO Hack Blog is under attack

2007 - Graywolf's blog is hacked, then removed by Stuntdubl.

Google Hacking to help improve security

2007: "It's your worst nightmare: someone reads snippets of your Google email, views your documents, edits your spreadsheets, checks your reading habits on Google Home or in a dedicated Google Reader, your research has a history" .

Google employees overwhelmingly donate to Democrats; The Google PAC gave Republicans more

2007: While 98% of Google employees' money went to Democrats in the last election, company-owned Google NetPAC gave 61% of its contributions to conservative candidates.

From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

Previous contributions are from Search Engine Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).

These columns are a snapshot over time and have not been updated since publication unless otherwise noted. The opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Land.

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About the author

Danny Goodwin is managing editor of Search Engine Land & SMX. In addition to writing daily about SEO, PPC and more for Search Engine Land, Goodwin also manages Search Engine Land's list of subject matter experts. It also helps schedule our conference series, SMX - Search Marketing Expo. Prior to joining Search Engine Land, Goodwin served as Executive Editor of Search Engine Journal, where he led the brand's publishing efforts. He was also an editor at Search Engine Watch. He has spoken at many major research conferences and virtual events and has gained his expertise in a variety of publications and podcasts.