All entries for September 2007

Was Live Search a 'piece of junk'? Or do Googlers search more?

Writing about web page http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/27/microsoft_unveils_major_update_to_live_search/

Thr Register’s story about the, now annual, relaunch of Microsoft’s Live search platform reported that MS now claim to be ‘as good as Google’.

The Reg went on to say:

According to the latest numbers from research firm comScore Media Metrix, Live Search is the third most popular search engine in the US, handling only 11.3 per cent of all web queries. Compared to Google’s 56.5 per cent, that’s a pretty paltry number. But Microsoft is quick to point out that Live Search reaches more people than this would seem to indicate. In August, the site handled only 11.3 per cent of all searches, but it was visited by 37 per cent of all searchers – i.e. almost 70 million people.

From our perspective, this indicates that the company’s existing search engine is a piece of junk. People go there, and then they quickly leave for another site. The Redmond outfit confirms that 46 per cent of its users are “not satisfied” with the current state of Live Search, with most complaining that search results aren’t as “relevant” as they should be.

The statistics of people who use a particular search engine have always added up to well over 100% as many searchers use more than one search engine. More searchers turn to Yahoo for the latest from BB but would use another for their work.

My research has shown that the heaviest searchers use Google and have the toolbar or deskbar installed. Often Yahoo has led the toolbar installation race but this is because Adobe has pushed it with their reader downloads. The more expert, heavy searchers, choose their tools.

So do most Live users think it is a ‘piece of junk’? I do not think so despite MS’s own poor satisfaction numbers. The heavy seach users will continue to use Google untill they find a better engine. ‘As good as Google’ may tempt some more to try Live but they will need a compelling reason to change their Googling habits.

Robert McGonigle : 27 Sep 2007 16:42 |  Tags: Google Live Search Microsoft Live Search Visitors |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Go.Warwick domain solves my Landing Page problem.

Writing about web page http://Go.Warwick.ac.uk/wmgMasters

I was disappointed when WMG’s new website, relaunched to reflect our new branding and focus was not built around the old domain www.wmg.warwick.ac.uk For several practical reasons such as access to the Universities support and SiteBuilder tools the new site’s home page was and this has allowed many more WMG staff to edit and publish content, add events etc.

I have been asked to look at setting up a Google Adwords campaign for the new Full Time Msc Program and Site for 2008. Using the www2.warwick.ac.uk form of the new home page did not inspire as a landing URL. So we have taken a series of the
http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wmgmasters URLs so I can display
Go.Warwick.ac.uk/wmgMasters

As I am over 50 and clearly not in the tagret demographic for this site so I will not comment on the look of the new student portal. You CAN comment on the colours, look, etc., here but you can also post directly to the Portal’s Student Forum

Robert McGonigle : 25 Sep 2007 11:23 |  Tags: Adwords Business Msc Display Url Engineering Masters Full Time Masters Go Warwick Google Adwords Wmg Masters |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

When TalkTalk goes silent!

Writing about web page http://www.talktalkproblems.co.uk/broadband/

I have been watching the customer service problems of TalkTalk with interest. First these were the problems of success as users queued up to get connected to their competitive offer.

This week a neighbour asked to use our internet access. Her TalkTalk phone service and broadband access had been down for several weeks. Repeated attempts to get this fixed via TalkTalk’s offshore call centre had failed.

She then cancelled the direct debit but even this did not provoke any response. BT cannot provide a service untill she successfully terminates the TalkTalk contract. Several expensive mobile calls to TalkTalk always seemed to be cut off when being held “whilst we go through the disconnection process”.

TalkTalk are great whilst things go well but this has turned into a nightmare, she said.

Thinking about joining up with TalkTalk? Just type talk talk problems or talk talk cancel into Google first.

Robert McGonigle : 21 Sep 2007 16:26 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem